Zane's Story: The Walking Dead
by TheGamerGal21
Summary: Zane is just an ordinary girl with a big secret... she's bullied. She's bullied by a girl in her class name Charlotte Maple and the rest of her so called "crew". To make matters worse, there's has said a disease has been broken out, That wasn't any DISEASE. It was just the beginning of a zombie outbreak. Zane doesn't know where her brother is, and she doesn't know what's going on..
1. Chapter 1 Epi: 1 My Life

ll Zane's Story: The Walking Dead ll  
>-This story is about a family trying to survive in a zombie apcalypse. The first few chapters are about Zane as a young girl BEFORE the apcalypse. The main characters in this first season is Zane's brother named John. John is a tall boy and he is about 1617 through most of the book. He has big blue eyes and bleach blonde hair. He is also a very strong boy. Zane's father, who's name is Jospeh, is very tall. A lot of people would say he looks very menacing, but he has a very sweet heart, as long as you don't break it. Zane's mother has beautiful brown eyes and long, red curly hair. She is always smiling. Zane has red, straight hair. Her hair is up to her shoulders and she usually wears it down. She also has deep, brown eyes, just like her mother.-  
>:REMEMBER THIS IS ZANE'S STORY. I WILL BE MAKING ONE FOR JOHN SOON!:<p>

I was walking through the school-yard and every time I'd walk, dust blew off my shoe. I looked around at all the kids yelling and playing hide and seek/tag. They were laughing. I felt so left out. I stopped to turn and I saw a group of girls at the right playing jump-rope. I turned to my left and saw a group of boys running around, playing soccer, frisebee, and tag.

"emWho should i join?" I thought to myself, looking around at both of the groups. When I finally made up my decision, I head toward the group of girls.

I cleared my throat and said "Um... hello?" Every girl turned around to look at me. I said something again. "Maybe I... um, May I please hang out with you?" One of the girls in the group snickered.

"Please? I feel very lonely."

Melisa, the nice girl, was the first to speak.  
>"Of course you can join u-"<p>

"MELSIA!" Charlotte, the snot-faced yelled. She quickly recovered herself by talking more "nice". Anyone could tell she was just faking. "Uh... i mean, Melisa! What are you doing? We can't invite... HER to OUR group! She's... yknow..."  
>Charlotte leaned in closer to Melisa's ear.<br>"She's the noobie!" She finished her sentence.

Melsia shook her head. Apparently every girl in the group heard Charlotte's joke and they started laughing like crazy.

I dropped my head down low to where I could see my shoes. I scuffed them back and forth while watching the dust rise up in the air and then disappear slowly.  
>Melsia saw me sulking and tried desperately to invite me into the group.<p>

"Guys, stop being mean to Zane! Just because she's the new girldoesn't mean we get to make fun of her! You know that i used to be the new girl too, remember Charlotte? But you actually gave me a chance. Maybe we can do the same for her!" Melisa shot back at Charlotte, giving her a mean look.

I smiled.  
>"Oh please!" Charlotte yelled back. "I didn't give you a chance, I HELPED you!" She sneered and then looked toward me. "There is no way I could help someone like... like ZANE!"<br>I opened my mouth to get ready to curse the hell out of her, but I was only 6 and I would get detention for weeks if the teachers found out, even if Charlotte DID deserve it.

I saw Melisa open her mouth to say something, but before she could, Charlotte pushed me and I fell flat on my back. Melisa was in shock, but every other girl started laughing and pointing at me.

I looked down, avoided eye contact, and began to cry. The bell called for recess to be over. All the girls scattered everywhere.. getting read to leave.  
>I got up by myself, and started walking into school all by myself, until I felt a tap on my shoulder. i turned around to see Melisa.<p>

"My god, I'm so sorry! I know that Charlotte can be a real B-" She stared at me. I looked back at her. "Uh... yknow." She looked at of my gaze.

"Ya think?!" I asked, not a hint of funniness in my voice, but she still laughed anyway.

"Hehe.. yeah" Was her answer. "Well, bye!" She smiled and waved goodbye.


	2. Chapter 2 Epi: 1 Tough Girl

**Chapter 2:**

Bullying between me and Charlotte got worse everyday. She hated me. I hated her. A lot of really bad things have been happening. People have said that a deadly disease is coming into our country. We don't know what it is, or who caused it... but it's coming this way. It's scary as hell. My brother, John has recently heard this news and he thinks it's all just a big rumor. He doesn't think anyone is going to get hurt. My 9th birthday is coming up, and I'm scared... What if I catch this disease before my birthday and die? Besides... what even IS this disease..?

I was playing basketball with my brother early in the morning, just shooting some hoops, and my brother started asking me how school was.

"So..." John began. "How's life?"

I looked at him as he took a shot of the basketball. "What'd you mean, 'How's life'?" I asked.

John started dribbling the ball and then he threw it to me. I caught it easily. "Yknow what I mean... how are you with that Charlotte girl? Is she still pushing you around? Still acting like a bitch?"

I paused before taking my shot.

"Yeah, yeah, she still pushes me around."

John sighed. "Zane," he said, while walking up to me. "You have gotta be strong! You have to show that bully that she has another thing coming if she doesn't leave you alone! You hear?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but-"

"NO! No buts.!" John continued. "You're my younger sister, and I care about you. You know that very well, don't you?" He paused. "Look I know..." He stops.

"Know what?" I asked, burning to know what he was about to say.

"I know it's hard, growing up and all. I've been bullied before too. But I showed him bad. Real bad. After that, he left me alone and never tried to touch me or hurt me... and, well..." He looked at me and smiled. "We actually became friends."

"Rodrick bullied you?!" I asked, both surprised and I felt sort of weird. "Does this mean I have to be friends with... with, Charlotte?"

"Oh no, no, no!"

"Oh, okay." I replied, sheepishly. I didn't want to be friends with Charlotte, but... but maybe Melisa...

"You can do that right?" He asked.

I felt bad. I even started to cry, not because I felt bad about me, I just didn't want to hurt anybody. "No, no I can't! I'm just a little girl. I'm small and... and, I. I, just. I just CAN'T do that! I really don't want to hurt anyone." I sobbed.

John shook his head. "Zane, I KNOW you can stand up for yourself, and you really, really should." He came close and hugged me. "Your my little sister, and I know you'd do the right thing." After about a minute I pulled away from him and wiped my tears away. I knew he was right. Of course he was right! He's my brother. I love him and would never leave him or try to hurt him. I know he'd do the same for me.

"Yeah." i said while nodding. "Yeah, I'll do something. I'll try. I promise." I smiled at him while he smiled back at me.

"Good. You're a tough girl right?" I nodded. "Then be a tough girl and shoot that ball for me!" He shouted, chasing me around playfully.

"Stop! John!" I giggled. Finally I threw the ball and watched astonishly as it made it through the hoop.

"Wow Zane, you've really improved!" John said with a huge smile. It was so huge to literally touched his right ear all the wall around to his left. He pat me on the back. "You're going to be my very own strong Zane!"

_'Yes, yes I was.'_ I thought. '_For my brother..'_


	3. Chapter 3 Epi: 1 Them Zombies

**ONE YEAR LATER**

I was sitting in the back of my dad's truck. We were on the road, driving as far away as we could from home town. Those THINGS are here... dead, walking humans. It's like they're alive.. but they AREN'T. That's the fact that makes it really creepy. All what they are are weak bones and thin flesh that's all rotten and bloody. The clothes are all ripped up, and their eyes are a ugly yellowish color. My dad thinks that they're zombies, walker for short. Well... not that short... but, whatever.

Suddenly, the truck stopped.

"What the hell?!" My father, Jospeh, started yelling like a maniac. He was hitting his truck horn which only drove more of those things over to us. "Why won't this thing fuckin' work?" He shouted again.

"DAD STOP!" I yelled.

"You're going to drag more attention for them to come over to us! You saw what they could do, so stop it now!"

"All what they do is eat! Fucking eat! E.A.T, EAT!" He shouted at me.

"Dad I'm not stupid, I think I know how SPELL, S.P.E.L.L!" I shouted back.

"Zaneiline!" My mom said, not in a shout or a yell, but just in a loud voice. "Please, please stop. And Jospeh-honey, please stop making noise. The both of you!" She looked at us both when she said this.

"I'm so sorry Kate-honey..." I heard Jospeh say. He cupped his head in his head. "I'm just... really, really tired."

"Aren't we all?" Mom said. "But right now we need to thin about started up this truck again."

"You understand?" She asked, while raising up an eye-brow.

"Yes darling. I'm sorry. Let's just hope those sons-of-bitches don't try to hurt you or Zane. I just want to protect you." Dad stepped out of the car. "I'll be back." He closed the truck door.

It was silent for a moment until mom broke the silence.

"Zane-honey." She started to say. "Maybe you should go out there and help your father with the truck."

"I think he'll manage mom..." I looked out the window. "Besides, he would porbably want to be left alone while he's fixing the car. He always does."

"Please Zane." That was all she could say. She was smiling, but her eyes told a different story.

"I miss John." She said.

I nodded. "Yeah mom, me too...-"

"GOD DAMN IT!" I heard my father yell from outside. He started kicking the back of the truck. "I just fixed this fuckin' thing yesterday! Why won't it work?! GOD DAMN IT!"

I shook my head. Then I noticed my mom signaling for me to go outside. I sighed, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. Hopefully he won't yell at me. Even hell knows he always does when he's trying to fix the truck. Always.

"Hey dad?" I asked in almost a whisper. "How's the truck going?"

No answer.

I walked closer. "Dad? Are... are you okay?" I was about to tap him on the shoulder when, suddenly, Jopeh turned around with a wrench in is hand, about to hit ME.

"AH!" I screamed. I turned around breathlessly and tried to run away, but when I did so, I twisted my ankle and tripped on a rock. I moaned while holding my leg. I felt like crying all over again.

"My god, Zane!" Jospeh dropped down the wrench and knelt down a me, trying to help my leg. "I so sorry Zane, I didn't know it was you... I thought... I thought you were... yknow...,"

I shook my head as if to say no.

"A walker." He stated.

I kept moaning and held my leg harder, trying to put pressure on it. I was so mad at my dad... I really wanted to scream. So I did... "Dad! WHY? Why couldn't you at least look at me and realize it was me, and not a walker!? You should've known I wasn't a walker, it wasn't like I was moaning or something. I tried to talk to you, but all what you did was ABOUT TO HIT ME?" Jospeh stared down at the ground. I immediately wanted to take back what I had said.

"Look Zane-honey, I'm so-"

Jospeh was interpreted by the truck door opening.

"What the hell is taking so long out he-" kate asked, then she looked at me. "OMG! What happened?"

"I was an accident... don't worry about it. And dad, don't worry about me. I'm fine." I tried to reassure him. He smiled.

The engine in the truck bruped on very slowly. All by it's-self. "Well I'll be damned." Jospeh said, rising up and patting the back of the truck. "It turned on just like that. C'mon Zane, Kate-honyies." He smiled. "We've got a lot of gas to waste.

Kate picked me up and bulked me in the back seat. She and Jospeh sat in the front, ready to drive away from this messy hell-hole. Hopefully there is a better place somewhere, with people, no zombies. Where we can all make a new home there. Live there. Be free, just like before.

I closed my eyes as I felt the "_BUMP BUMP_" of the truck moving. I fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4 Epi: 1 Cheesy-love Thing

My leg was still hurting, but I really didn't remember much after the incident with the wrench. Once we hit the road, I fell into deep sleep.

I woke up and realized I wasn't in dad's truck anymore...

'_Was it all a dream?_' I thought. It couldn't be! My leg was still hurting like hell.

Everything was pitch black, but I could hear myself breathing. i reached up, and touched something thin and sorta silky. I sat up to realize I was in a tent. I could hear voices outside, and I knew it was my mom and dad.

"What the hell do you think's going on here?" I heard my dad say. His voice was muffled, but I could still understand him clearly. "This is so strange..." He continued. "A zombie apocalpes? Here in Georgia?" He paused for a second.

"Where do you think John is?" He asked, over whelming himself.

"I don't know." This was a second voice, my mother's. "I really hope he's okay.. yknow, not dead your hurt or anything. It's... it's only the first night. I just..." She paused. "I. I feel so bad, bad for Zane. She doesn't know what's going on and must be scared as fuck!"

"_True" _I thought to myself. I scooted up to the ten zipper and opened it up to peer outside.

Kate looked up and put on a fake smile. "Oh honey! You're awake.. are you feeling better?" She asked. I looked around before answering. Apparently mom and dad built a fire and were boiling something... soup? I looked in the bucket. Yep! That was definitely soup.

I looked to my right and saw that mom had already set up my sleeping bag for the night.

"Are you okay Zaneiline?" Mom asked. She frightened me.

"Huh...? Oh yeah. I'm feeling better. Sorry for not answering soon enough." I responded, sheepishly.

I crawled over to my sleeping bag since my leg was still aching. "May I have some soup?"

"Oh of course!" Kate replied. She got up and poured me a bowl. "Yknow Zane, we love you dearly and we would never let anything bad happen to you Zane. You do know that... right? That we'd never leave you. We love you with all our hearts and-"

I cut her off. "I know mom." I took a sip of my soup. " You don't have to make this a chessy love thing. I do love you too, and I'd never leave you. i'll make sure you're safe." I looked at Jospeh. "Both of you." I smiled.

Jospeh was eating his soup the entire time. He smiled when he heard what I said and put his bowl down.

"Good." He answered. He walked up to me and kissed me on the head. "I'm going to bed. Ya'll better get some rest too. The both of you. I'll think of a plan while I'm sleeping, and we're going to stick to it. We are into this together."

He entered his tent. "Goodnight."

'_Tomorrow_' I thought. '_Always tomorrow_'.


	5. Chapter 5 Epi: 2 A Big Great Farm

I woke up to the sweet sounds of birds chirping and singing their little tunes.

'_I love that sound_' I thought. I sat up in my tent to listen closer to the beautiful sounds they made. I was really surprised. No zombies knocked down my tent, and I pretty sure they didn't get near my parents either. I didn't hear any at all.

As I crawled out, i realized I could walk on my leg. Every couple steps I'd take I would trudge on my leg a little, but at least I was feeling much much better. At least I could walk.

"Oh Zane-honey!" i heard my mom walk up toward me. She stroke my red hair. The same color as hers. "How are you feeling honey?" She looked down at my leg. "Oh Zaneiline, dear, you really mustn't walk on your leg! You need to relax. I betcha it still hurts a lot."

"Mom, i'm fine." I said. I still managed to sit down anyway. I sat down right on a cool, red rock. And by cool, I don't mean 'Dude that things COOL' I mean... that thing was seriously COLD... Then I say dad's truck. "Hey mom?"

"Yes dear?"

"May I go into dad's truck and take out John's gutair he gave me?" I asked.

Kate dropped the stuff she was cleaning up when she heard this. Probably because she missed John. We all did.

"Um... sure." Was her answer.

I smiled and trudged to Jospeh's truck. As I took out John's big, black gutair, I felt tears spreading in my eyes. '_I really do hope he's okay_' I thought. I wiped my eyes and started drumming my fingers on his gutair strings, creating a lovely melody.

I could see Kate walking up to me. She was completely silent. I knew what she was thinking about, and I knew that she was trying hard not to cry.

"Oh my god." Kate turned around. Apparently her plan failed, because I could hear her sniffling behind her back. "I miss him so much." I heard her mutter.

"Me too." I replied. I had a ton of thoughts scramble into my mind, all at once. Feelings and emotions ran through me. It was like a roller-coaster. I really, really fucking annoying roller-coaster. It's pretty hard to find annoying roller-coasters in life... 'eh? All at once I felt happy, yet sad, yet glad, and mad, all in one huge bubble I couldn't control. I just wanted to scream, "MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP!" at the stop my lungs. I just wanted to break free and see John again. He was always what made me keep going. He healed my scars by telling me I was a tough girl.. helping my heal by playing basketball. He taught me how to draw. He even taught me how to play this cool damn gutair I was holding in my hands just then. I put it back into the truck and locked the door.

"Do you think..." I paused, not really sure if this was the right answer to ask mom. '_Fuck it.. just do it Zane. Just do it._' I shook my head, then sighed.

"Do you think we'll ever get to see him again?" I finally asked.

"I...-" Mom began. "Sweety, I really don't...-"

"FUCK!" Kate and I were startled by a voice we heard in the woods. It was dad, obviously.

He ran out of the clearing he was in. "Girls, oh thank god you're all right!" He said. He was all blooded and gross. "Girls, we gotta go. A swarm of walkers are coming this way, there's no time. Grab everything you can find and LET'S GO!"

"Wha.. but Jospeh..-"

"Look, Kate-honey, I'm sorry but we can't stay here." He said, holding her tight. "I know you wanna stay here but it ain't safe anymore."

Zombies started entering out of the woods and into what we called a "camp".

"OH SHIT!" He screamed. "Zane," He looked at me. I was scared. "It's gunna be okay Zane, but Zane, look at me and listen hard. You have to go inside my truck and get all the supplies I packed in there, okay?"

ME?! I had to get the supplies...? "Why... why do I have to?" I started to argue, but dad cut me off.

"Just fucking go! I believe in you! Kate and I'll go get all the stuff outta the tents," He paused when he saw I wasn't heading toward the truck to get the stuff. He sighed. "Girl, i know you can do this. You're... you're a tough girl... right?"

I was shocked. Dad called me a tough girl?! I always thought he'd thought of me as a wimp... but then I realized it was all just a game. Just because of what my brother told me. Then I remembered... John's gutair! It was still in the truck! I decided to go and get the gutair, and... the supplies... since we really, really needed it.

The zombies were breaking into our territory faster... and I could literally SMELL the blood scraping off their skin... '_Mmm... yum...__' _I thought sarcastically. '_Probably won't be able to eat for a week now..._'

I picked up the bags full of supplies and then slowly scooted over to the back seat which held my gutair... or John's in other words.

But right as I reached for it, I felt a sharp pain on the left side of my head. I spun around and noticed a zombie broken the car-glasses window. He was trying to grab me so he could bit me! At least I think it was a he...

I started screaming like crazy, and held onto the truck's chair. I kept pulling, trying not to let go. I didn't want to get bit, it was disgusting... I really didn't want to die. I actually felt like giving up, like letting go of the seat, and just let the zombie tear open my inside. I actually FELT like doing that, but I didn't. I don't know which decision was more brave, but I'm glad for what I did.

At the last second, I felt a SNAP. My entire body plunged forward, my head felt as if it split in half by the oh-so-offically bad pain. I turned around to face the zombie... and... oh god...

I was stunned.. the whole left side of my hair was ripped off... the zombie had it in it's hand still. It started chewing on it, like it was some kind of food... like the zombie was starving and my hair was food. It was actually EATING my hair. I touched the side of my head where the zombie pulled out my hair. It felt weird... all bloodied and gone. Really, really strange. Then more zombies ripped open dad's truck, leaving me stuck, about to die.

I heard voices outside of the truck. "Where's Zane?" Dad asked, in a shout.

"She's still in the truck..." Jospeh's eyes widen. He looked over at the car and noticed the zombies breaking into his car. "Holy shit..." He paused, then dropped the stuff he was carrying and ran straight for me.

"DAAD!" I cried a heavy breath and felt the zombie's hand slowly getting closer and closer to reaching me. Finally, Jospeh rushed in, pulling me out of the truck with all his might. He carried me all the way to Kate.

"No... John's gutiar!" I yelped, sadly. "No! JOHN!" I started sobbing. Jospeh looked back at the truck and then at me. "I'll make it up to you baby." He said, almost in a whisper. "I'll make it up for twisting your ankle." Then he looked straight into Kate's eyes. "Kate, I need you to carry Zane out of her."

"Wha-... what do you mean honey?" Kate asked. She held me in her arms. "Just go." Jospeh replied, not really answering her question. "I'll catch up to you, I promise." Then he ran towards his truck.

Without questioned mom ran out of the camp with me in her arms. I felt a river of sadness blow over me. '_Was dad gone?_' I asked myself... blinking back tears. '_John... now_ dad?' It couldn't be. He did say he would come back. I know he would.

**-A LONG COUPLE OF MINUTES LATER-**

It was a long time of running, so Kate and I decided just to relax on the sweet, green grass. Kate told me that we should stay close to the campsite we stayed in, so that dad could try to find us. I thought that was a pretty good idea as well. No zombies really came. It was really boring for the next couple of minutes. I don't know how long it was, it felt at least 30-45 minutes. Kate was actually going to give up and leave Jospeh until we heard a noise coming from out of the woods. It was dad.

"Dad!" I jumped into Jospeh's warm arms. "Hey Zaneiline-honey." He whispered into my ear. He stroked my hair, over and over again, just the way I like it. After our hug, I let him go... then noticed a box behind Jospeh's arms... it looked like... like... a gutair?

"Hon." He said after the hug. "Look what i brought back." When he reviled the box, it was in fact a gutair box! John's gutair box!

I gasped. "Yay! You got it back!" I looked at my father, joy over-spreaded me. "I'm so happy daddy! Your the best."

"You're the best too pumpkin." He smiled. We then did our father-daughter highfive we usually always loved to do. Then I sat on a tree trunk and opened up John's gutiar case. He's gutair was so beautiful... one of a kind!

Mom then heard a noise a little some way northeast from where we were. At least I think it was northeast.

"Honey, what is that sound?"

"I'll go check on it. You two stay here." Dad said. '_Of course,_' I thought. '_Dad was always trying to be the hero. The good thing is he did a good job at it, at least._' I chuckled to myself. Kate and I walked behind dad anyway. "Whoa..." Dad was in awe at what he saw. Then Kate saw it. She put her hands into her mouth in shock. I saw it too... and didn't really see what was so wrong with it. I guess it's hard to find a big, huge farm in the middle of nowhere during a zombie apcolyapes... 'cause that's what we all saw.


	6. Chapter 6 Epi: 2 The St John's Family

The farm was so... so superber. I've never seen anything like it before. The had a big fence that covered the whole interior of the farm. The fence was sparking up with sparks and things like that. I guess that for when they don't want robbers or bad-guys to enter their farm. They steal stuff a lot... I once saw a bad-guy in my neighbors backyard. It was scary.

Behind the farm was a huge, (and when I say huge, I MEAN HUGE) stock full of wheat plants that were growing. Probably had a lot more plants and what-not in it, but that's all I could see.

"Whoa..." Jospeh said a second time. This is the first time I've seen him speechless. Well, besides that time he won the lottery, but I was too young to remember ALL the details.

"We gotta go there." Is what he said next.

"What do you just say Jospeh?" Kate was surprised. I bet she was thinking.. '_WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO WALK INTO A RANDOM STRANGERS HOUSE?_' And... yet again, I could read her mind. Or... or she could read **MINE.**

"Jospeh-dear, we CAN'T go into random stranger's homes. They could be dangerous. There are people we can't trust, and... yknow.. it's..." Kate stumbled on her words. "It's what?" Jospeh asked, irritated.

"It's better to be alone sometimes. Alone as a family. Together as a family... I mean..."

Dad rolled his eyes.

"All what I'm saying that we should try to think before we do things." She finished.

"And what? Miss an opportunity that was forgotten? Kate, these people have food, and a barn! Oh and don't forget that amazing fence!" I had to agree with him, he was right.

"That fence could help us, yknow... it can stop the zombies from ever getting to us! Kate-dear, this is important. I never said we had to stay here, and yes, you're right.. I do agree with you about having to trust the right people, but c'mon! Just look at these people! What can you NOT trust about them!?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't know-" "Hey!" Jospeh yelled at her. "Trust me... I got this all under control." He started walking toward the gate.

Kate sighed. "Great..." She mumbled under her breath. "I love your father dearly, but he's gotta have to start shaping up. This is about survival.. we have to live by ourselves."

"Mom, I do agree with you on some things, but dad is right. We have to try them out. They look pretty good. Seem nice... I guess. And besides, we can also survive as a team." I said, light shining in my eyes as I said the last part.

"I don't know Zane..." Kate answered. "We'll just have to wait and see."

We hurried after dad with John's gutair box clutched in my hands. Dad opened the gate and stopped in his tracks to look at the view. In front of him was a pretty house. It was pretty big, could hold a lot of rooms. The grass was long and big. I could see a barn behind the house, it was really big as well.

"Alright girls." Jospeh said. "I'm going in." He pushed open the gate and walked a couple of feet into their home. "Hello?" My father yelled. "Is anyone there? We could use some place to stay, and by 'we' I mean me and my family. I've got a wife... and a little girl. She's only nine. We could use some help if anyone is home?" He kept shouting.

"Jospeh-honey, keep it down." Kate whisper-shouted.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Jospeh almost shouted. His shout must've surprised the people who lived in this house, because I saw a women who was wearing a pink shirt with big brown eyes and she had short red hair that was brushed back. It looked like it was naturally brushed back like that.

That lady looked through the window, surprised, and then slowly closed the window. Then I heard some noises coming from the house. We were silent for a moment, waiting for what would happen next. The noise went down the house, like someone was heading down the stairs. After that, the door opened slowly and we saw two guys. One was tall with dark, black eyes and dark black hair. The other one was shorter than the other one. His face was completely plain. he had dark brown hair that was styled backward. His eyes looked exactly like the other guy's.

They both slowly walked up to us, not interiorly sure if we were zombies or not. Dad finally turned around and saw them.

"Oh jeez." Dad jumped back. "Sorry, you frightened me..." Jospeh stammered, embarrassed. "I'm sorry to bother you, but we would like to stay here. Me and my family that is." He finished his statement.

"Oh... uh, hello." The guy with the black hair was the first to talk. "I'm, uh, I'm Andy and... uh, other here's my brother... My brother Danny. Welcome to the St. John's family." Andy said. A smile spread his face. "Inside our home we have our mama Brenda and our father Terry."

"Hello." Kate said. She shyly walked up to them. "My name's Kate. This is my husband Jospeh," She pointed at him. "And our daughter Zaneiline. Zane for short." She pointed at me. "We are sorry to bother you but, we were wondering if we could stay here... yknow. Life is tough and..." She paused and glanced at me. Then looked back at the St. John's boys. "We need to stay together." Another pause. "As a family."

I smiled.

"Oh, well of course you can come around and stay for a while. I don't see what's so wrong with that." Andy answered. "Why don't ya'll come on inside and met the rest of the family?"

Dad was looking around, very snobby like. It wasn't like he hating the place, I guess he was just trying to judge the place, yknow... on how safe and not safe it is. I can't blame him though, and parent would do that.

"Huh?" Jospeh caught a glance on what was happening as we starting entering the house. "Wait... pardon me... where exactly are we going?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Into their house. To meet their family." She raised an eye-brow as she said this.

"Oh. Right." Dad finally caught on what was happening and followed the rest of us, still looking around mindlessly.

The lady I saw through the window was sitting in the kitchen. I saw her, she was reading something. Not quite sure what it was... but it was some kind of newspaper. She looked up from it. "Oh hello dears... oh! You brought guests! How lovely!" She smiled and walked up to us.

"Hello. My name is Brenda and these are my two little boys. Oh! Not very little anymore." She chuckled. "Speaking of little, it appears you have one of your own." She bend down to look at me. "What's your name dear?"

"Zaneiline." I said shyly. "You can just... just call me Zane." I said with a tiny smile.

"Aw, how sweet." Brenda smiled. Then she started stroking my hair. "You have such pretty hair." Then she reached over the the right side and realized all of that side was missing. "Oh dear! You're missing the right side of my hair! How in name's world did this happen?"

"Oh..." Jospeh sighed. "Zane was stuck in my truck wit ha zombie pulling on her hair. It must've pulled the right side of her hair off. Thank god I was there to save her... otherwise..." He stopped.

"Oh my!" Brenda was in shock. "Well, thank heavens she's alive." After that sentence, I could see her eyes light up. "Oh, I have a wonderful idea! I'm going to have to cut the other side of your hair off. It'll be just like a makeover!" It looked like Brenda almost squealed.

"A makeover?!" I was both surprised and shocked. I wasn't real sure if I liked makeovers... I never had one before. I looked up to my mom and dad with my sweet, soft eyes, pleadingly.

Mom was easy to plead over. "Oh of course you can cut her hair and give her a makeover." She easily replied. Dad... not so much.

Jospeh was quiet for a moment. Then he sighed. "Fine."

"Yeah!" I jumped up and down. As we headed up the stairs, I could hear my father yelling, "DON'T PUT A LOT OF MAKEUP ON HER. IN FACT, DON'T PUT ANY MAKEUP. MY DAUGHTER'S NINE... NOT SEVENTEEN!"

Brenda chuckled. The rolled her eyes. "Oh, men sometimes right?"

I didn't have an idea what she was talking about, but I laughed along with her anyway.

When we entered her room, she opened up her makeup kit that was in her drawer. I sat down on their bet and looked around a little bit. The bedroom was simple. It had a bed with a blue bed sheet and I was sitting on the big puffy blanket that was ontop of it. Beside the bed was a drawer that held clothes and all different sorts of things. Over in the back of the room was a bookshelf that was right smack in the middle of the wall.

"Okay Zane, you ready?" Brenda smiled as she pulled out the last bit of her stuff. She then placed it right next to me on the bed.

"This is so exciting!" She squealed like a pig. "I have never got to do a little girl's make-up. All what I've had were my boys. Of course I love them, and they always help out with the barn work, but I really have always wanted a little girl to play with." She took out some scissors and turned me around.

"I don't really want that much make-up. Dad would be mad. Let's just cut off my hair..." I trailed off.

"Okay dear." Then she paused. She started cutting my hair, and I suddenly felt... weird.

"Will this make me look like a boy? I don't want to look like a boy." I asked.

"Oh no! Brenda chuckled. "It'll make you look cute. Trust me." After a while, she finally finished, and she showed me what I looked like with her mirror. My hair was swayed to the right side of my face. It looked different, much sorter... and I wasn't real sure if I liked it. "How do you like it?" She asked.

"Uh..." I didn't know what to say. "It's fine." I muttered, almost a whisper.

Before Brenda could ask me what was wrong, a older man walked into the room. He had a beard with sort hair. He actually looked like Santa Clause, if you could imagine Santa Clause... anyway...

"Hello honey!" He shouted, smiling.

"Oh hello Terry." She smiled back. "Zane, this is my husband Terry." They kissed each other on the lips as he walked in. "Well hello there... Zane?"

"Short for Zane... my brother gave me that name." I smiled.

"Oh well how sweet." Terry said. "I met your parents downstairs. They seem like a nice family. Ya'll can surely stay here for a while if you have too. We could use the company." Then he smile faded. "Where exactly IS your brother?" "Oh... um..." I paused.

"He's... gone." Terry and Brenda's mouth came completely wide open in shock.

"Oh my goodness... he's gone? I'm... I'm so sorry. How'd, how'd that ever happen dear?" I looked around, kinda confused. "Oh no, he's not dead." I replied. Relief flooded over the two of them. I could tell by the expression on their faces. "Oh, good gracious dear, you frightened us both for a second..." Brenda sighed in relief.

"Then what DID happen?" Terry asked.

"Well..." I began, "It's not much of a long story, but before the zombies came out, and when everything was fine, he went to his first year in college. After a couple months, he was gunna come back so we could see him again, but... yknow what happened..." I shook my head.

Terry and Brenda were both devestaded. They looked at me with a sad, but reassuring smile. "It's okay sweet-pea. Your fine with us." Then Terry left and I headed back to my parents.

**-AT NIGHT-**

"Alright kiddo, time for bed." Jospeh laughed, as he pushed me off his lap.

"Will you read me a bedtime story?" I smiled at him with open eyes. "Well... I don't know Zane-honey. I don't think we have time for a story. It's getting late, you've gotta go to bed." He looked down at me. I looked up at him, and started t pout.

"Aw! Daddy! I'm not tired yet! And besides, it's not that late. Just one story?" I pleaded.

"Honey... I don't have any stories. Brenda probably doesn't have any either... do you?" Dad looked up to her. She shook her head. "Sorry sweety."

"No!" I pouted. Then i had an idea. "Why don't you just make one up then daddy?" I asked.

Dad sighed. "Okay get in bed. I think I have a good one for you." After the story, dad kissed my head and headed out the door. "Sweet dears, don't let the bed-bugs bite." He smiled, and then closed the door.


	7. Chapter 7 Epi: 2 Jospeh VS Terry

"I like their name!" I said.

We had stayed with the St. John's family for a few days, and we were already starting to get the hang of things staying around them. Terry and Jospeh never really got to see eye-to-eye, but they still did talk. Kate and Brenda were upstairs, sowing something. Terry was hunting for food. i was just chatting with my dad, Danny and his brother Andy.

"I like their name's because it reminds me of John! Yknow, the 'St. John' family." I giggled.

"That's right pumpkin." Dad said. He rustled my short hair. "Your hair is so different now that it's short. I actually really like it." He smiled at me.

"You're right." I smiled back. "I am really getting used to it now"

I heard giggling coming from upstairs. The next thing you knew, Brenda and my mom were rushing down the stairs. "That's hilarious!" Kate shouted. She giggled uncomfortably. "I know! The first time i heard it, I couldn't stop laughing either." Brenda wasn't laughing, but her smile was so wide.

Life was better. Much better. I felt safe, and so did my family. '_I think I I really like this place._' I thought to myself. '_I might as well stay her for a long time. These people are nice, and it's safe her._' Of course... I just thought that.

Terry rushed in the door... his expression on his face was both tiring, and confusing. I think he was about to yell.

"Hey dad." Danny was the first to talk. "What the hell happened? You look depressed."

"Bandits." Terry shouted. His face was bloodied up. "Those fuckers are messin' with us! They took our food! I saw OUR boxes in THIER camps! Those fuckers crossed the line!" His voice was cracked up, like he was about to cry. I knew he wasn't. "I'm gunna show em' a taste of their own medicine." He muttered under his breath.

"Hey... Terry!" Brenda half-shouted. "We have folks here, why don't you sit down?" She patted to a chair.

"Yeah, c'mon dad. Come chat with our new friends." I noticed Jospeh stammer at the word, 'friends'. It was obvious not ALL of us were friends yet. That included my dad and Terry. As I have said earlier, they don't see eye-to-eye.

Terry scowled. Jospeh laughed at him. "What? Do ya'll not care?! Do you not care about them bandits stealing our food and keeping it for THEMSELVES? How the hell do you think this happened? Hey, ya'll can not give two shits, but I DO give two shits about this mess, Imma go clean it up." Terry picked up his bow and arrows and started to head to the door.

"We gave it to them." Andy said, nervously. "What... what did you just say?" Terry asked, slowly turning around as he said this. Next thing you knew he was walking up to Danny and Andy, his eyes narrowed.

"We gave it to them." Andy repeated. This time, he sounded more confident. "We let them have it. That's why we aren't worried about it. Now sit down dad."

"What the fuck are you saying boy?" Terry leaned in closer to Andy. "YOU GAVE IT TO THEM? What?!"

My father rose up. "It was my idea. We made a deal with the bandits yesterday so that they wouldn't hurt my family. I saw them in the woods. They KNEW where we lived. They knew about this place. I didn't want to tell you about that because I knew you'd freak the fuck out. That's why I just told everyone else about it." Jospeh stated.

Terry turned to face my dad. "You... I should've known it was you. You motherfu-" He stormed up to him.

"STOP!" Kate pushed Terry away. "Leave my husband alone. He didn't do anything to you, so do as I say!" Terry stopped. "Please Terry. Just relax. We didn't mean to cause any trouble. And besides, in that same situation... what else would you do?"

He just shook his head and walked off. Once he left, dad started ranting on and on... "See? I told ya'll that he was a bad man. He could've killed someone! It was just some damn food! Who cares? I mean, yeah, we need a lot of food now, but god damn it I was jus trying to protect US. We live in a DAIRY FARM. We have plenty of fucking food. But he had to yell at us... my god." Dad stopped for a second, thinking about what to say next. "He's a bad example..." He trailed off, and then stared at me.

"What do you mean our father's a bad example?" Andy asked, looked dead into dad's eyes.

"To Zane." Dad finished. I was surprised by this.

"Wha...- What do you mean daddy?" I asked surprisingly.

"He could've hurt you, if we did fight..."

"But you didn't..." Danny cut him off. "He's not like that, yknow. Our dad's a good man. You just gotta get used to him." Then, they left.

Jospeh growled. Then he went upstairs, angry. "Oh my..." Kate murmured to herself, and she sighed. "Jospeh HAS to become friends with Terry. There's going to be fallout at some time..." She stopped her sentence there. "Oh god." She finished with a face in the palms of her hand.

"Mom... will daddy be alright with Mr. St John? I don't want him to hurt him... but what if Terry IS bad? I don't think he is though."

"Zane." Kate pulled me toward her. "Terry IS NOT bad. He's, just... just protecting his family. And we need to survive now. He was right, we shouldn't of given those bandits our food. It was the wrong thing to do."

"But mom!" I argued back. "They could've got mad! And they could've hurt us back. Dad was just trying to protect us... he did the right thing. I just know it."

Mom shook her head. "Oh Zane. There's a lot of things you have to learn right now. It's not easy. We need all the food to stay alive. I love Jospeh, but he did the wrong thing. I don't care what ANYONE else says."

"But mommy, he's family...-"

Kate pushed me off her lap, then ran upstairs growling to herself. My hand's felt like they were burning. I lifted them up to see that I got a carpet-burn from when mom pushed me off her. '_Over-reacting, don'tcha think?_' I thought. I just shook my head and walked into the kitchen to get some water. '_DID dad do the right thing? Seems like her was just helping us... although i still don't know. It's kinda hard for a nine year old to think through things during zombie apocalpes... i guess._' I got out a water bottle and started gurgling water. It felt so good, the water slipping down my throat. It felt... relaxing. And 'relaxing' isn't really how many people feel during a zombie apocalpes either.

Guess I'm lucky.

**ALRIGHT: I'm done with that chapter(didn't really know how to end it, so sorry if it has a weird ending to you) I hope you like my story so far. Please leave a review about how you feel about this story so far!**

**Oh, and tell me who you think's right? Terry or Jospeh? Feel free to answer that in the review too. Thanks, love ya all.333 :) **

**-TheGamerGal21**


	8. Chapter 8 Epi: 2 The Gift

Terry and Jospeh got into another fight yesterday. I think the St. John's family is growing more and more suspicious around us. I don't know why though, we didn't do anything to them. And besides, how would a nine year old be a threat? I haven't really talked to Danny or Andy in a while. They've been in the back of their barn... plaining some kind of sceame. I don't know what though. In fact, I'M getting suspicious about THEM. I've never seen what is in the back of their barn. I once tried to enter it, but Danny caught me and yelled at me for doing so. When dad heard he did that to me, he went up to him and told Danny to back off and to never touch me or hurt me. Our friendship is really falling apart between them. Mom's right, there's gunna be a heck of a lot fallout. Only if we keep turning on each other then yeah.

All what I've been doing lately is staying up in my room, playing John's guitar and thinking about him. '_Where do you think he is?_' I went on and on. I even talked to myself sometimes. '_Is he dead...? Couldn't be. He's too fast, too smart, too strong to die now. I really miss him._' Whenever I'd even touch his guitar, tears would spread fall down my cheek. I put on his hat that had a 'Z' on it... and yes, it did have a Z on it... weird, huh?

I went into the bathroom to try it on and it actually fit on my head then the last time I put in on... which was the last time I ever saw John. He gave up his guitar for me... all me. I hated thinking about him, but that's all that I could think about anymore. I always stayed in my room. Whenever I was hungry I'd go to the kitchen in the middle of the night to get a snack. Yknow, like some crackers and other things. Maybe a juice box as well. If they has some, anyway.

I started wearing that hat a lot now. It makes me feel strong, just like my brother. That might sound stupid, but it's true. It's hurts to wear it too, but I know that John would like me to wear it for him.

I was just eating some crackers earlier today, when I heard a knock on the door. "Come in." I said, my voice was getting deeper. Not SUPER deep, but it was deeper than it was a couple weeks ago.

"Hey honey." Kate walked in, all smiley and happy. It actually scared me a little. "How are you feeling?" She almost asked that in a happy squeal.

"Um... just fine." I replied.

"Oh great!" Mom smiled at me with the biggest smile I've ever seen grow on her. She sat down on the bed with me. "I just wanted to tell you that your 10th birthday is coming up soon. Did you remember that?" She asked.

"Really?!" I asked, surprised. "It's already August the 11th?"

"Yes sweety." She kissed my head. "Well, almost. Like I said, you have a couple more days. But, since it's almost your birthday, I wanted to give you a early birthday gift." She put a box into my hands and folded my hands on top of it.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling all right. I'll see you later Zane. Bye." She went out of my room, with me staring at my gift.

'_Wow... it's already close to my birthday? I didn't know we've been staying here for that long._' I shook my head, leaving my thoughts, and then opened my gift. I pulled ever single piece of wrapping paper that was on the box. When I opened the box, it had a small note, and next to it was something I've always wanted... always.

A watch.

I picked the note up first... of course.

___My dear Zane._

_ I love you with all my heart. No matter what happens, you will_

_ always be family with me, in my heart. I hope you feel the same for_

_ me, and I hope you like this gift. I know that you've always wanted_

_ this, so I hope you'll always wear it._

_ I love you -Love, Kate._

I smiled.

When I took out my watch, it was awesome. It had fake little diamond spikes that were on the outside of my watch. The watch read 1:58. P.M

I loved it. Absolutely loved it, more than any other thing in such a long time. I put it on, and it fit perfectly. I don't know how mom found it in a zombie apocalpes, or maybe she bought BEFORE the zombies. Maybe she wore this when she was a kid, and decided to keep it for if she had a little girl of her own. I still didn't care, I had my own watch! I was so happy. Happier than ever. I snuggled up with my blanket, and fell asleep, clutching my brother's hat and wearing my new watch.


	9. Chapter 9 Epi: 2 Trancing in Sleep

I woke up late in the middle of the night. The room was completely dark, I couldn't see anything. I saw a little bit of light down below from the crack in the door to the hallway. I didn't hear anything because everything was quiet. Too quiet. I sat up in my bed and look down at my watch. It was 2:45 A.M. Then, I scooted off my bed and clamped my hat on. I slowly walked towards the door, almost like I was tiptoeing.

When I opened the door, no one was there. The only light that was on was the hallway light. Every other light was turned off. The closet light was off, the bedroom in which Danny and Andy sleep was off, the guest in which my mom and dad was off too. I snuck downstairs to see if anyone was down there. All the lights were turned off, except the kitchen.

Was it creepy? Hell yeah it was! Should've I gone into the kitchen? Nope... probably not. But what did I do anyway? Yep... into the kitchen. Right before I was going to turn back and go into my bedroom because I thought this was all a weird dream, someone grabbed me. He/she pulled me closer to them, and they clasped my mouth so I couldn't scream.

I tried biting or even licking their hand, but whoever it was wouldn't budge. I tried to push them away from me, but it wouldn't work! They were as stiff as a statue. Wait... a statue?

DANNY!

He turned me around and it was in fact Danny. I stopped struggling, but he didn't let go. He just kept holding me. Staring at me... creepily. I wanted to punch him... but I suddenly heard a noise. A door opened.

Danny held me closer to him. He didn't say anything, and he was completely still. The figure that just walked through the door was Jospeh. I could tell because he started yelling.

"ZANE! KATE! WHERE ARE YOU? C'mon girls, please come out!" Dad looked all around, he even went upstairs.

I looked up at Danny, confused at why he wouldn't let me go... or at least say something... like that I was safe. I pushed and pulled on him, trying to pry his hands off of me, but he still didn't move. Then I heard Jospeh running down the stairs. He was obviously very nervous.

"ZANE! ZANE-HONEY SCREAM IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!" He shouted.

I tried to scream. All what came out was a bunch off muffled sounds. Dad heard me, and started speed-walking up to the kitchen. "ZANE! Baby, I heard you. I think I did anyway, WHERE ARE YOU BABY?"

I saw Andy running in, he had a bat, and he ferociously hit Jospeh in the face. He tumbled back and fell flat on his back. I started screaming as Danny let go of my mouth and I jumped on top of dad, hoping he was okay.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" I yelled at them. I grabbed dad's hand. "Where's mom. Kate... whatever!" I looked up at both of them.

"Girl, he was a bad influence. Doesn't that sound familiar?" Danny raised an eye-brow when he said this. "Just like what Jospeh had said about OUR father. He even started a FIGHT with us. In fact, I never thought it was a good idea to bring your family in here." He glanced over to Andy and it was obvious that they both had agreed.

"WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!" I asked. This time I almost jumped on them, about to tear their skin off. "And what do you mean it was all a mistake for inviting us in? We didn't do anything to you! NOW WHERE IS MY MOM." I ran up to Andy about to hit him or something.

Danny quickly jumped beside his brother and grabbed onto me. "Zane! stop it, you've been a bad girl you hear! Your bother wouldn't like you like this... now would he?"

'_First they hurt my dad... take my mom... and NOW they're involving JOHN in this matter?! He wasn't even here for fucking sake!_'

"Yeah, well my brother wouldn't want a bunch of people we don't give two shits about, hurting HIS family! Especially his sister." I yelled at them, putting emphasis on the word, "shits". Both Andy and Danny were surprised by this.

"Zane, your just a little girl, when did you ever start cussing... that ain't right yknow? If your father or mother heard that at all, he'd been really mad you do know that, right?" Andy started lecturing me. I couldn't believe it.

"I HOPE that my dad can hear me, because you knocked him out. I hope that when he wakes up, he kicks your asses!"

Danny and Andy exchanged glances, again, and then shook their heads at the same time. "Kid..." Danny started.

"Your father isn't gunna wake up. We're gunna take ya'll somewhere and keep ya'll there. Ya'll better get along with us, because your gunna be staying with us for a long time, and none of you are going anywhere."

My heart started beating incredibly fast.

"We're staying together..."

"As a family." Andy finished Danny's sentence.

I was about to say something, but Danny put something in my mouth... it was like a pill or something, and I suddenly felt very sleepy, and fell straight into a deep trance.


	10. Chapter 10 Epi: 2 Has To Be a Way Out

I couldn't feel anything, but I heard everything around me. I heard dad scream... "OPEN UP THE DAMN DOOR FUCKTARDS, OR ELSE I'LL BREAK IT OPEN!"

My feeling came back, and realized mom was holding on to me, her two arms wrapped around me, squeezing me and brushing my hair back and forth. She whispered in my ear that everything was going to be alright, but i was shivering a whole lot. Couldn't even think to stop.

"It's okay baby," Kate stroked my hair over and over again, which just overwhelmed me more. "Everything will be alright... everything will be alright. I won't let them hurt you. Jospeh kicked and pounded at the door as hard as he could. Each time he did, I jumped slightly. Kate was not impressed. "Joshep-honey, please stop that! You're scaring poor Zane. She's already scared as it is."

"No mom, I fine." I tried to untangle from her, but once I did, I immediately scooted back into her arms. I was trying to be tough... really did, it's just hard to be tough sometimes.

"HELL NO!" Jospeh shouted at Kate. I thought he was losing it.

"Those basterads could've HURT YOU! Hurt you both! AND I PRETTY SURE THERE AIN'T ANY MEDICAL CLINICS AROUND HERE... 'EH? What do YOU think?" Jospeh kicked the door. "I know honey... but..-" Kate tried to say, but, of course, Jospeh cut her off. "NO! None of those 'buts', I'm getting you girls outta here. These people are sick. I overheard them saying something about EATING ZANE KATE! EATING OUR CHILD. What do they think they are? Cannibals?"

"Probably are..." I whimpered to myself. I knew they heard me though.

"Oh honey." Kate reached over to me and held on as tight as she could. "You'll be okay."

Jospeh kept pounding on the door for about 15 minutes, pushed and pulling in everyway. Grunting and shouting as loudly as he could. He found a crowbar underneath a bunch of boards and tried that out... didn't work. He kept pushing and pushing until he finally slid down to sitting position, leaning against the door. The last thing he did was yell through the door and punch it as hard as he could... then he gave up.

"I give up." Jospeh said. His stomach heaved up and down as he breathed as heavily as he possibly could. Kate looked over to a vent that was about to fall off. It didn't look secure, and she could take it off by using her fingire-nails. She walked over to it to give it a try. _POP!_ The vent cover fell to the ground with a big pop and thunk. Jospeh jumped, then looked over to what Kate did.

"Holy shit!" He almost screamed. "How did you...?"

Kate lifted her fingires and smiled. "It was about to fall off anyway." Jospeh laughed and skidded over to where the vent fell off to peer inside. "That's pretty small. A small hole, is what I mean." He said, his voice echoed off the walls of the steel, concreted area inside the vent.

I got up. "Um... is it too small for me?" I asked.

"Oh no, you are NOT going in there." Jospeh said. He carefully bent down and looked into my eyes. "It's not that I don't trust you Zane, I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt. It'll be easy. If I see Danny or Andy or Brenda, I just back up, get ready, and pounce." I said that because thats what John would always say when they'd wrestle on the sofa. I could tell dad was getting teary-eyed just hearing me say something that reminded him of John.

Jospeh glanced into the space behind me, staring for a while. "I don't know Zane...-" I heard his voice breaking off, and thought he was going to cry. I leaned over to hug him, grasping around his tee-shirt and squeezing as hard as I could. He felt warm, and I could've sworn I heard a sniffle come from him, I just didn't say anything.

'_I CAN do this... right?_' I thought to myself, not really sure if I could.

As I left Jospeh's grasp, he patted my back. "That's a good girl." He said. "I know you can do this. You know that you'll be doing this for us... right? You gotta stay down low, and if you hear anything, stop in your tracks. Wait for a couple minutes until moving again. Got it?" I nodded my head. "Alright." He stood up. "I know you can do this Zane. Once you get out of that vent, I need you to stay low, crouch down and be very CAREFUL. Don't make any sudden movements if you see anybody out there move." He picked me up and sloshed a wet kiss on the side of my forehead.

"Now go up there!" Jospeh started pulling me up to the vent when Kate stopped him.

"WAIT!" She yelled, making a huge echo bounce around the vent. She quickly covered her mouth, and the uncovered it when no one noticed. "Wait..." She said a little more calmly and quietly.

"How do you know it'll work? Maybe they knew we'd make her go this way, and that's why they loosened up the vent to make it easier to open. It could be a trap, and once they find Zane we'd all be in danger!"

Although Kate was complaining, Jospeh had already helped me climb up the vent. I was couched low and steady underneath it, trying not to making and sounds.

"Kate, I know this seems dangerous to you, and it really is. I don't want her to do this either. But this is the only chance we have... and we gotten take risks like this, even if it kills us. I know it's hard to see Zane do this, but we're in a damn zombie apocalpes! We have to survive. And this, WILL help us get out. I know it. Trust me, okay?" He paused. Kate stared at him for a while and then sighed. "Okay." She murmured.

"Good." Jospeh smiled. He looked over to me and nodded. I nodded back, turned around, and started crawling through the vent. As I crawled, I heard the echoing of my knees scraping against the metal. I tried to go slower to lower the sound, but it didn't work as I wanted it to. I eventually saw the other side of the vent, and lucky, it was already off. Hopefully Andy or Danny haven't heard me crawling through the vent. If they did, they could be anywhere around me, trying to catch me.

I got out of the vent and immediately saw something that freaked me up. I gasped, and then covered my mouth trying not to whimper and scream.

All around me was blood. Everything had blood. There was a small area to the side of the room that had a rope that was hanging to the ceiling, and inside the tub that was underneath the hanging rope had blood covered in it. On the tub was a taser, pretty much for anything. I bet you they taze animals with it... or people. Right beside me was a huge spiked razor. Even it... was covered in blood. SURPRISE SURPRISE.

The floor was literally flooding with blood, and unfortunately, some of it looked "recently bloodied". I slipped and tumbled over it, trying to get to the other side of the room. There were things in these jars, not sure what they were, but they looked like body parts. I wanted to vomit.

'_What the hell is wrong with these people? They are just so sick... everything about them._' I tried to ignore it all, yet it was kinda hard. Can't really avoid looking at something that's RIGHT BESIDE YOU... Just sayin'.

Once I walked over all the blood, I saw a door and leaned my ear up to it, just to make sure that it was the room Jospeh and Kate were locked up in. Then, I opened it up. "I'm okay." I said quickly.

Kate ran over to me. "OH MY GOODNESS!" She almost screamed. "I'm so glad you're okay." She picked me up and held me as close to her as possible. I saw Jospeh walk out of the room in the corner of my eye. Then he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Holy...-" He was cut of as he fell on the floor, not really looking at where he was going. He looked at his hands and up all around him, his mouth open in horror and shock. I knew he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Kate then let go of me and ran over to Jospeh, stopped as well.

"What the he-" Jospeh tried to say, but Kate covered his mouth.

"Shh..." She whispered. "I heard something, or someone in other words." She leaned up and down, sideways, and forwards, trying to listen to what or... who was making the noise.

"I don't hear any-" He was cut off as someone started to open the barn door. Jospeh scrambled to his feet, and pulled me over to where he was, holding me down. Kate sat next to him as well. We all crouched down as low as we could, hiding behind the pile of boxes from the dairy. I REALLY didn't want to know what was in those things.

The person who entered the barn was Andy. He started to cross off to the room we were in, and as he was about to open to door, Danny stormed in.

"Wait!" Danny cried, stopping Andy. "Not right now." He whispered, thinking we were still in the room. "Come over here, we'll surprise them. Unlock the door and give them a chance to escape."

Andy just shook his head and shrugged. "Whatever you say." He looked at the lock to turn it, and then made a puzzled face. "Wait... did you unlock this door?" He asked.

"Um.. no. Why are you wondering?" Danny asked back. He walked to Andy to see what he was talking about. Andy then pointed to the lock and said, "The door... it's opened. How did-?" He then opened the door and saw that no one was in there. "They escaped! How the fuck did they escape? We locked the door, and...-" He looked inside the room. "THE VENT!" He kicked the door with his foot. "We left the FUCKING VENT unhinged... AGAIN?" Danny shouted.

"Again?" Kate whispered to Jospeh with a worried look on her face. "Just ignore them." He whispered back.

"They're a bunch of fuckers."

"Who said that?" Danny asked. He looked around, puzzled. "Said what?" Andy asked him. He looked around with his brother.

"I SWEAR I heard something. They have to be around here somewhere... they're just hiding so they can escape... or KILL us." Danny said, adding "suspense" to the end. He kept looking around, and started creeping closer to the boxes we were hiding in.

"Okay guys. Kate, Zane. I'm going out." Jospeh told us, quietly. "WHAT?!" Kate held onto his hand. "I know, i know. But this is for the best. I'm gunna kill those sons-of-bitches. Just STAY hidden. Please."

I was scared, but I nodded anyway.

"Good." He jumped out, surprising both the St. John's brothers. "THE HELL YOU DOING? KNOCKING ME OUT? HURTING MY WIFE? Are ya gunna kill my kid? What did WE ever do to YOU? I can't believe you sick idiots!" He yelled at them.

Danny raised his hand. "Hey, where's the rest of your family. The hell are you doing out of that room we put you in?"

"What do you think?" He asked, sharply. "Do you think that we are dumbass? Do ya think we'd just stay in there, getting ready for you to kill us, skin as alive. Make us into FOOD? Huh?"

"What makes you think that?" Danny asked, raising a eye-brow.

Jospeh smirked. "'Cause this is a fucking DAIRY FARM! THAT'S WHY! Ya'll make MEAT out of people and send it TO OTHER PEOPLE! For them to FUCKIN' EAT! Is that what we ate? HUH? Is that what my poor daughter put in her mouth?!"

"Where IS your family?!"

"You answer MY question first!" Jospeh shouted at the two of them. I noticed Terry with a cross-bow in his hands. He quietly sloshed over the blood and mud, and slowly put an arrow in his cross-bow. I KNEW who he was going to shoot.

"Fine." Andy smiled over at Terry. Terry then reached over at Jospeh and pulled him over, settling the cross-bow at his head. "Answer the question, Jospeh." Andy continued his little speech. "WHERE IS YOUR FAMILY? If you don't answer, we'll let Terry END you. THEN you're precious little family. Y'know... Zane?" He tilted his head to the side, testing him.

I screamed and bite Terry's thumb, making it bleed and rip. "Let my dad GO!" I shouted. Kate jumped out form behind the boxes.

"NO! ZANE NO!" She grabbed ahold of me. When I bite Terry, he shouted and let go of Jospeh, also dropping his weapon. Jospeh quickly caught it and pushed Kate and I forward, trying to run as fast as we could, making sure we wouldn't slip over the blood puddles.

I heard Danny, Andy and Terry all get up and run after us. I tried to keep up with my mom and dad as we exited the barn and trotted down the hill and behind everything else, when I noticed John's guitar case near the swing Brenda made for me to swing on. I rushed over to John's guitar, hoping to get to it in time to run back, and i could hear Kate and Jospeh yelling and screaming at me to get back. I just ignored them. I knew what I had to do. I made a promise to my brother to keep his guitar, and that's just what I'm going to do.

I picked up the case and turned around to run, but I couldn't. I was too late. Terry was behind me, carrying a crowbar now. He had a smirk on his face that said, "_Goodnight little girl. Congrats on being the first one dead during the zombies._" Which was not true. The zombies died first, obviously...

He swung back hard, as I ducked away and he broke the swing instead. He pushed me down and lifted the crowbar above his head. His smile was evil and dark, just like that black clouds that dangled above him. It felt just like a horror movie, yet I was the bait. I started screaming and yelling but I couldn't really make much of an effort since he's foot was on my chest, pushed down right where my lungs would be.

Terry laughed a evil laugh and peered over to my family. Zombies were surrounding the fences to the St. John's house, but no one really cared since the wire-fences were zapping them anyway. Just before Terry could do anything to me, I saw a arrow slid right through him and on his chest. Terry let go of the crowbar, and it landing right beside me. Terry made some gurgling noises, then fell right on the ground. He was dead. I looked up to see who shot the arrow.

It was my father. I jumped up happily, and carried the case that had John's guitar in it, racing towards my mom and dad. I hugged Jospeh and then my mom, but we wouldn't stay for long. Not here anyway. Jospeh and Kate held hands together and we all raced together through the gates and the zombies... the only bad thing was, there were tons of millions of them. I tried avoiding them, and sticking with my family, but soon I got separated and couldn't find mom or dad.

"DADDY!" I yelled, looking all around me. "MOM!"

Jospeh heard me and yelled. "ZANE! DON'T WORRY ABOUT US!" He held Kate tight around him. "WE WILL BE FINE. WE WILL MET UP AT THE WATCHTOWER, SEE IT? OVER THERE, NORTH OF US?" I turned around to see a bright light shining through a tall, red, black and white multicolored building. "YEAH!" I shouted to him.

"HEAD OVER THERE! WE WILL MET YOU THERE, WE PROMISE. AND DON'T GET LOST. AND DON'T GET BITTEN! DON'T MKAE NOSIE EITHER, IT ATTRACTS THEM! ALTOUGH THEY HEAR US, THEY ARE MORE INTO THE WIRE-FENCES MAKING NOSIE, JUST DON'T MAKE TOO MUCH, OKAY? AND STAY CLOSE TO THE GROUND... HIDDEN."

"Okay!" I sorta shouted back to him.

Then I didn't hear anything else out of him. Nothing for a long, long time.


	11. Chapter 11 Epi: 3 Omid and Christa

I carefully crept slowly and silently around the hoard of zombies. I stayed as quiet as I could so they wouldn't start heading for me. They couldn't see me or smell me because of that blood that covered my body from the St. John's dairy farm. I tried to act "zombie like" walking slowly and doing nothing but WALKING. No wonder people call these things walkers.

Of course I was scared, I had my hand clutched to John's guitar in my hand, walking around all the zombies I saw. I felt myself shivering. It was cold out, and I was really tired. So tired I would fall down in a deep rest. I knew I couldn't do that though. If I did, the zombies would realize I have brains and they'd eat me alive. Wishing that I could see John again, I carefully crept around the dead zombies bodies. Some of them were dead on the ground, some of them were walking around with yellow-glowing eyes and ripped off clothing. Some even had no arms or certain body parts.

I was walking for a while, not a very long time. Not as long as I expected, as I should say... but still for a while. Once I was far away from the hoard of zombies, I picked up John's guitar case and settled it over my head, running away from the St. John's family, as far I could possible go. No stopping. No nothing.

I ran into the forest, dodging trees and jumped over rocks. I tried looking around to see if I saw mom or dad, but there was no sign or any living thing. As I entered the forest, less and less zombies came in my way. I was actually feeling better, now that there were less zombies to creep me out. I slowed down, looked around me, and sat down next to two big rocks. They were cool and muddy in the midnight air. I leaned against one, stretching out my back form all that running I had to do to dodge and leave the zombies. Leaves fell down on my jacket. They were all wet and sticking, probably from the winter-shower that had fell earlier in the morning.

I was shivering all over, from head to toe. It was freezing out... and I just wanted to hold my brother again. I wanted to be with my whole family again. Two of us wasn't FAMILY. Even three of us surviving together isn't FAMILY.

All of us together is a family. That's the FAMILY I care about.

I opened up John's case to see if there was anything to cover up my ears with. Since Brenda cut my hair, my ears were cold and tingling because it was wintertime. It hasn't snowed here... it doesn't snow much in Georgia. But for me, it was still freezing.

I reached into his bag, pushing all the music sheets aside, and then I spotted his baseball hat. The hat had a huge "Z" in the front of it, since the baseball team John was in was called the "Zaners". That's where my name came from. I never told him how much I loved them name, but I really, really did. It was a unique name. Not a name that you'd normally call I girl... I guess. You can call a girl anything, really. Yet a lot of people would chose the name "Zane" as a guy's name. I really didn't care. My brother gave me the name and I loved it in every way possible.

I put on my hat, moving it in the right position on my head. The hat was too big for me, I was happy though because it covered my ears and kept them warm. Leaves kept falling on me, some were dry, other's were wet, but I didn't care. They all still kept me warm and hopefully they covered my sent and sight so zombies wouldn't track me down during the night. The night is always the worst time to be outside, all the zombies like to fest on dead flesh on the stroke of midnight.

I slowly closed my eyes as I leaned against the two rocks. They were hard and... rocky... but I didn't care. I was to exhausted to care... and soon I was fast asleep.

* * *

><p>When I woke up, I saw the sun glistening through the mountains. My arms were throbbing from last night's "exciting adventure" during the St. John's family. All what I could think about was Terry standing over me with a crowbar, about to hit and kill me, and then I remembered dad's warm hug he gave after saving me from those basters. His entire image fir perfectly in my mind, and it scared me.<p>

The sun was just beginning to show up through the mountains, but it was still cold. I reached into John's guitar case, just to make sure he didn't have a warm blanket or something in it. John used to ALWAYS carry things in his case.

I dug around in the pile of music sheets and towels which he used to polish his guitar with. They still had black polish from the times he would clean up any scratches or marks he'd make. He would always make sure his guitar looked speck-clean. I then noticed some pockets that hung on the side of his case. I opened up the flap and peered inside. I saw a lighter.

A smile spread across my face. I've seen John use this thing whenever we went out camping during the summer. He taught me how to use it last year, it scared mom to death because she thought I'd burn myself. It never happened though.

I remembered exactly what I needed to burn a nice, warm fire. I needed some leaves, which I had a ton from sleeping on them last night. I needed some clean, dry sticks as well. I also needed to clean around my area so no dirt would get in the fire. I don't know why, but mom and dad told me not to throw sand/dirt into the fire. They say that it can make the fire so big, it could easily burn you.

I went out searching for logs since I already had all the leaves I needed. I walked around the rocks until a found a area with logs and tree sticks that had fallen off dead trees. I took all the dry, clean ones other then the ones that fell in the mud. They were all wet and would be MUCH harder making fires with.

As I walked back to build a fire with the sticks in my hands, I heard some nosies that startled me. I turned around and saw three zombies. Luckily, they hadn't noticed me... yet. I tired not to freak out and lowered my breaths so they wouldn't hear me, yet I could hear and feel by chest heaving up and down. I turned around slowly, getting ready to leave, but as I turned my foot lifted up slightly and busted a log. I didn't trip, but I made a loud thumping noise.

I gulped and turned around.

One of the walkers heard me. He turned around, his yellow eyes glowed in the early morning sunrise. He started trudging toward me, and I freaked. I dropped all of my sticks and ran over to where I was going to build a fire, and I tried to grab all my stuff so I could ran away and L.E.A.V.E!

I shoved everything back into John's case. All the music notes, the cloth and towels, and put the lighter back into the flap where it belonged. I locked the case together and quickly started running, my breath was getting louder and louder the more I ran. Unfortunately, I ran into a huge herd of zombies that were all in a big group. I couldn't count all of them, but let me just tell ya... THERE WERE TONS. And by tons, I mean about 34... or something.

I turned back, hoping to find a different track to run on so I could escape all the zombies, but the two zombies were following me from BEHIND. I forgot that idea, and started running away from them to the north where the lighthouse was. I jumped over rocks and felt my feet falling up and down while jumping to different areas on the ground. I tried to ovoid making noise just in case there were any other zombies around me.

Of course I was faster than the zombies, and i was catching speed pretty qucikly. I smiled and turned around just to take a peek at where the zombies were.

YEP!

None behind me!

I smiled and turned around but as I turned around, I heard a big _CLICK _and _SNAP_ing sound. I looked down and immediately fell down WITH pain evolving in my leg.

I was STUCK in a BEAR TRAP.

The pain stuck all over my right leg and I tried to pull it off. I've never used this and really have never seen this except on movies. I had obsoletely no idea how to take it off!

I started screaming with pain.

"AHH! MOM DAD! ARE YOU GUYS HERE!" I'd screech. "MOMMY! I'M STUUUUCCCK!" I cried with every inch of breath I had left in me. I tried tugging on it. I tired pushing and pulling, hoping that it'd come off somehow, yet nothing happened. I started crying and looked up. The zombies were snarling and moaning, trudging over to where I was. I knew I'D be the next one gone.

I cried and cried. I even tried shouting again, hoping mom and dad were close by to come and save me.

"MOOOOOMMMY! DAD! HELP! ANYONE, I'M STUCK!" I cried and cried and cried. My foot started bleeding and my leg was getting completely numb. Those ugly-ass things came closer than I ever imagined. I turned the trap over to see if there was anyway to release it so I could be able to run free in the wild...

I couldn't find anything.

One of the zombies grabbed my leg and pulled on it so he could eat my leg off. I yelled and pounded at his head with my foot, trying to pry him off me. He was just trying to bit my foot, luckily he hadn't yet... but he was close. And with all those other zombies coming closer to me, I knew my death day was "CLOSE" too.

Right when I thought there was nothing I could do, a man came running up ahead of me and saw me in the trap.

"HOLY SHIT!" The man screamed. "That girl needs help, we gotta help her Christa."

A lady with a white jacket and purple line across shouted back at him. "Wait! What if she's bit? We CAN'T risk that!"

"HEEEEELLLPP!" I shouted. "I'M NOT BITE! PLEASE HEEELLLP!"

The man ignored what that lady said and took off to the direction I was in. "OMID!" The lady yelled, yet the guy still ignored her.

He kicked the zombie aside and hit him in the head with a baseball bat. The other zombies were close to me, but they weren't close enough to eat me alive. The guy looked over at the trap that my leg was stuck in, and I couldn't help but yell and cry as he fiddled around with it. He finally found a release latch and pulled me up.

"I got ya!" He told me carefully. "CHRISTA!" He shouted at the lady with the jacket. "SHE'S WOUNDED! REALLY FUCKING BADLY, WE GOTTA GET BACK TO THE HOUSE, NOW!"

"Shit!" I heard the lady mutter, and then she ran up with the man, staring at me. "Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Can you hear me?" She asked me another question. My eye-sight was getting really hazy and I couldn't fell anything. My hearing was all muffled as well. It sounded as if the lady was an echo through and concerted, metal maze... just like that vent I had to go through during the escape drama at the St John's. Finally, I couldn't hear or see anything. Everything was pitch black and I didn't remember anything happening after that.

* * *

><p>"Omid... we can't just KEEP her here! We don't know who the hell she is! She could be working for anyone." I heard a voice as I woke up.<p>

"Oh come on, Christa. We couldn't leave her either! And who possible could she be working for... huh? You tell me. She's a kid Christa. A KID! Just like what you're going to have." The man said back to her.

I heard a sigh from the girl. "Fine, but we aren't keeping her. Let's just see who she is. She can stay for a while, but once she's able to move on her feet we will have to let her go. I bet you she has a family to look for too."

I heard a door close as their voices faded with it. Then, I woke up on a bed. The sheets were warm and comfortable, I couldn't help but to stay in there for a little longer. But I smelled something... weird. I didn't know what it was, but it sure smelled good. Real good. I sat up in the bed to smell it better. It smelled like someone was obviously cooking something. It smelled like those pies mom would bake during Thanksgiving. Apple pie? Not sure.

My stomach was gurgling as I sniffed a big sniff. '_It smells SO good!_' I thought to myself. '_I've GOT to get a piece of whatever food that is. I'm starved._'

I leaned up against the wall that was beside my bed. I tried stepping on the ground with my foot, yet it hurt like hell! The bleeding stopped and looked down at my leg to see how bad it was.

"My god!" I whisper-shouted to myself. "That's a big bandage. I wonder how big the wound is, I forgot from yesterday." I shook my head away from all the thoughts and tried walking again.

"OUCH!" I whimpered and flopped down on my bed. No one heard me. '_Whew, close one._'

I tried again. Leaning against the wall, I lifted my leg and slowly put it on the ground. "Ow!" I jumped, but gained my position and slowly hopped to the door, since really I couldn't WALK to it.

I opened the door which led to a small hallway and saw stairs down to the next floor. '_Great..._' I thought. '_How am I gunna get down there?_'

I could smell the food even better now. It HAD to be a pie.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

I jumped, startled and turned to my right. A man was standing there. He was short, and his beard and mustache was buzz-cutted. His hair was black and looked at bit buzz-cutted as well, but I could tell he was trying to let it grow in. He was wearing a plain brown-greyish jacket with brown pants. "What are you doing out of bed, girl?" He asked again.

"Um...-" I tried to say, but the man cut me off.

"I'm not trying to be rude, but kid! You've got a wound on your leg. Doesn't that hurt?" He started to walk up to me and push me back into the bedroom so I could get some rest.

"Yeah, it hurts. What hurts more is that you won't let me get something to eat." I leaned on the side of my leg and crossed my arms together to make it look like I had more "sass".

The man chuckled. "Is this what's it about? I'm sorry kid. Here, I'll help you." He picked my up and held me like I was a little baby.

"Oh.. jeez..." The man grunted. "How old are you?"

"Uh..." I tried to think on what day it was today. "What day is it? Do you know?" I asked him.

The man looked up at the sky, like the answer was up there somewhere. "I think it's the 15th of August."

"Then that means I'm ten now!" I laughed a little.

"Oh wow." The man said. He started carrying me down stairs. "My name's Omid." He told me. "What's yours?"

"Um... Zaniline." I answered. "But people just call me Zane for short."

"That's cool. My name is Omid. My wife is Christa. We just got married a couple months ago... before all of this went to hell." He said. "We are all confused and hope everything will be okay." He paused.

I stared at him, and suddenly a dash of sadness erupted through my heart. I hoped everything will be okay too. '_Everything WILL be okay, right?_' I asked myself. I was about to ask Omid that, when suddenly he started talking again.

"Well.. we are all hoping something good'll happen." He said. "And that Christa finishes that pie." He added. "I'M STARVED!"

We entered the kitchen where the lady in the jacket, Christa, was baking the pie. "Hello there." She welcomed with a soft voice. "How are you? Do you feel weird?"

"No. I feel fine. Why?"

"Well, we just to make sure you're okay. We aren't really sure if you got bit or not... and I'm just happy you're still alive." She smiled at me. "That must've been pianfully. It wold defiantly hurt like hell for me. Are you SURE you're alright?" She asked again, like she didn't quite belive me.

"Yes mame." I tried to keep my manners up. These were nice people. They saved my life, better than those St. John idiots.

"Good." Christa turned away like she was about to leave, but them she turned back around. "Would you like a piece of pie?" She asked.

"That's what I woke up for." And with that Christa turned around and brought back a nice looking yummy cherry pie. '_Cherries! My favorite!_' I thought to myself. I couldn't wait to eat and taste the delicious warm flavoring of the yummy pie. '_I love cherries!_'.

"OH MAN!" I heard Omid shout next to me. "Cherry pie! My favorite type. Thanks sweet-heart." He leaned over to Christa and gave her a kiss on the check.

I nodded my head in agreement. "I love cherry pie too! I also like apple pie as well."

I took a bite. The flavor was SO GOOD. It tasted good and sweet, not too sweet, it had a bit of a salty taste as well... but Mmm was it good!

Christa and Omid stared at me, waiting for a sign that I liked it. "Mmm!" I muttered with my mouth full. I rubbed my stomach to show how good it was. Then i saw Christa smile.

"Thank you. What did you say your name was?" She asked, cutting a piece of pie for herself.

"Zaneiline." I replied, mouth still full. "But you can just call me Zane for short."

"Ohh. That's a very pretty name." She said, shaking her head in liking-ness. "It's so good to see a child. I really didn't think they'd make it." She said under her breath. "I'm glad that you have nice, protective parents that make sure you're okay."

She paused.

"Where exactly ARE your parents?" She asked me.

I stopeed chewing the pie for a second, and then laid down my fork. "Um..." I began.

"They.. uh, they have to be... out there. I guess," "Out there?" Christa stopped eating and started at me right in the eye. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... is that they are headed over to the lighthouse back at the north. Have you ever seen that lighthouse before? Um... well. We, found some people who owned a farm, and um... they weren't good people. They tried to hurt us and dad got in a fight with them. They trapped us in a secret area they had in their barn. Dad said they were going to kill us.. and, eat us..."

"Cannibalism?" Christa cut mid speech, stunned.

"Yeah."

"Whoa.. who does that?" Omid asked. "I mean, there are already enough zombies eating us, why should more people, y'know. It's sick."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Well, you're safe now." Christa added with a smile. "You can stay with us until your leg heals. Once it does, you need to go out and find your family." She looked over at Omid.

"What?!" He asked, startled and confused.

"You're gunna help her, tough man."

"Wait! What about you? What if a hoard of zombies come in here and you die? I can't let that happen." Omid tried auguring.

Christa chuckled and said, "What if I can handle a bunch of nerds that barley walk 5 miles an minute." She shook her head. "I CAN do this Omid, you've seen me beat those bitches down."

Omid just rolled his eyes and replied with, "Whatever honey. I'll do it." And then we all finished out the cherry pie.

I think Omid, Christa, and I will be a great makeup-family. For a couple of days... anyway...


	12. Chapter 12 Epi: 3 Healing better

The second day of hanging out with Omid and Christa wasn't that bad. They were actually very nice. There were a couple accidents where zombies would try to creep into the area, but Christa handled those things very well! Omid was always weird, yet in that funny sorta way. He would always make me laugh. Christa wasn't the funniest person, but man could she make delicious pies! (She made a apple pie yesterday!)

Well, earlier today I tried walking on my leg and it worked! Not as I wanted it to, and it still hurt, a lot... but I was "healing better".

I was just sitting on the bed I usually slept on, and was reading the book called... "The Trumpet Of The Swan" which I thought was a pretty good book. Suddenly, someone came through the door. It was Christa.

"Hey kid." She sat down, smiling at me. "How are you doing?"

"Healing better." I laughed a little bit. "It's still hurts to walk on though."

"Oh, I bet it does." She said, and then she plopped a book-bag beside my feet on the bed. I looked up at her with a questioning look that said, "What is all this?" Christa just laughed.

"This is all the stuff that used to be mine when I was your age." She picked up the red book-bag and turned it over and over, making sure it didn't have any holes in it. Then she paused. "You do like the color red, don't you?"

"Yeah!" I picked up my hat to show her the capital "Z" that was red with a black outline. "One of my favorite colors."

"Good. I found this is one of the boxes I found while picking things out. Aparentally I had this when I was... eight?" Christa shook her head. "I believe so." Then she looked down at me. "Oh..." She laughed.

"Who cares how old I was. I want YOU to have it now." She handed the bag to me.

"Wha- what am I going to use a bag for?" I asked, still taking the bag.

"of course you need a bag to held all your belongings in this bag. It'll help you so you won't have to carry that dumb guitar case everywhere with you." She smiled at me.

"Wait... where is the guitar case?" I asked. "You said that you took it to put stuff into it that'll help me."

"We said that we'd TAKE OUT things." She replied. "There was a guitar, that I highly dough you're going to need. I mean, what's a guitar gunna do when there's a herd of zombies walking toward you. It's not like you can smash it... well... you can, but. That's a waste of a cool guitar." She paused. "I just thought it's be best to take it away, off your hands. It would and will be much more easier that way."

I nodded. "I know it'll help me go faster while running... but. It's just that, that guitar means a lot to me. I can't just leave it. That would be stupid."

"Why does it mean so much to you sweetie?"

I paused before answering. "It was my brother's."

Christa was surprised for a moment, then straightened herself out. She looked me right into my deep, dark, brown eyes. "Soo. You want to keep this guitar of yours?" She asked, tiredly.

I looked up at her. "Well... it's technically not MINE."

"But it's YOURS now that your brother is..." She paused. "Gone."

"I don't now where he is..." I muttered under my breath. "He could be alive, or dead, or... just... GONE! And I don't know. I think about him. I think about him every time I touch the guitar. Or even just look at his guitar case. And, to be honest... I don't feel anything anymore. It used to hurt, but now it's like I don't feel anything now that he's been gone for a while. Sometimes I'll have dreams about meeting him again. Once I actually thought it was real, and I was happy! I could actually feel myself crying as I was dreaming. Crying happy tears. And then I woke up... and this..." I looked up at Christa.

Christa got up and said, "I understand. You want his memoirs. They're better than nothing." She started to leave my room, but I stopped her.

"Actually, I'm not sure if that's what I want." Christa looked over at me and asked, "Why?"

"I want HIM back. There's no me without him. I really like you guys." I met her eyes for a second. "You are cool and a great pie-maker and Omid is funny as heck...-" I paused to look out the window. "But knowing my brother is out there somewhere, risking everything for ME... really kinda hurts. And I don't know how he's doing. I know he's smart. He taught me to be strong. Strong with everything I was afraid of... and I guess that the only thing that makes me strong is being next to him. Knowing that HE is there FOR ME."

Christa nodded like she understood.

"Some things you just can't bring back." She sighed. "Especially now. During the zombie hoard. I promise you, tomorrow, you will have your brothers guitar and your family. I hope you find them..." She paused. "And your brother."

"Thanks." I said softly. '_Please leave, I'm tired..._'

Christa slowly crept out of the room. "Now I'm going to leave you to sleep." It was if she was reading my thoughts... "Now get some rest. I'll put your guitar back in it's case. Omid's gunna help you find your family. I'll wish you good luck on the way."

And with that she closed the door with a soft _THUNK!_ I dropped down on my bed, laying on my back and staring up at the ceiling. I hoped to see him again. I hoped he would be okay. For right now...

I closed my eyes.

... I wouldn't think about him or even talk about him. I WILL find him. And with that... I feel asleep.

* * *

><p>I woke up and looked over at the backpack that was sitting on my bed from what Christa had said yesterday in the afternoon. I climbed out of bed and looked outside the window. It was foggy. Looked like it would've been around 6:45 AM. I checked my watch. YEP! I was right on time, a little early never hurts.<p>

When I walked out of my bedroom out onto the landing of the staircase, I could see my John's guitar case sitting right beside the front door. Thoughts and memoirs of John quickly flooded into my mind like a hurricane day during Florida. I shook my head, trying to forget all about him, and walked down the steps.

"OMID! CHRISTA?" I shouted. "I'M READY TO LEAVE AND FIND MY FAMILY!"

Christa entered with a small axe in her hand and smiled at me. "You seem to be walking better. Feeling better?" She asked, bending down so she could look into my eyes. "I hope your okay. Yesterday... yesterday was quite a day."

I smiled. "I'm feeling much better thank you." I glanced at her right hand, my eyes settling down at the hatchet she held in her hand. "What's that for?" I hesitated when I asked.

"For you." She held out the hatchet for me to take. At first I was surpirsed. Then started laughing and looked up into her eyes. She WASN'T kidding.

I immediately stopped laughing. "So, you're not kidding?" She shook her head. "Well..." I hesitated again. Christa was tough and tried her best to make sure everyone was safe in her hands. I liked the idea of having a weapon to keep me safe... but what would my parents say? "My dad would be really surprised. And scared that I'm using one." I laughed, yet I stilled took the hatchet anyway.

"I think he'll understand." I smiled up at Christa.

"I know he will." Christa added. Then turned around, waiting impatiently for Omid. "OMID HURRY UP! You should've been ready a while ago." Then she turned around to face me and her expression changed.

"Where's that backpack I gave you?"

My face light up. '_MY BACKPACK! I knew I forgot about something. Gotta go get it._' "Oops... left it upstairs. I'll get it." I trotted carefully across the room to go upstairs, just because my leg was still aching. I came back down with my backpack carry everything I needed and saw Omid ready to go.

"Ready?" He asked me.

"Ready." I said, with as much power in my voice as possible.

Christa bend down to look into my eyes again. She stared for a while, and we both stared awkwardly for a few seconds or so... felt like a year... and then she nodded as if she finally accepted me leaving for this trip.

I nodded back, then picked up MY guitar case, and went out to fight off zombies and find my family!


	13. Chapter 13 Epi: 3 Just 3 Not Yet All 4

Omid and I walked through the forest, leavings cracking and shattering into millions of little pieces at each pace we took. Some leaves feel off the tress from the escape at the St. John's family barn. When the lighting stroke... yep. Omid was ranting on about his family. Talking about his older sister and younger brother. He talked about his mom and dad, and how his mother was almost always up in the kitchen, making stuff for them. Omid's favorite dish was fresh, delicious slamon. Well... that's how HE described it. I've never had salmon.

"I've never had salmon." I replied in his mid-sentence.

"Oh really?" He asked, really surprised. "Well you haven't yet lived!"

I laughed. "Does that mean I'm a ghost?" I said, playing around with his little joke.

"Maybe." He replied. "Maybe you are a ghost. And maybe Christa and I are going crazy!" He made a funny face and I laughed.

We kept walking for a while, skipping over stones and rocks that'd flick up outta the ground. Some of the rocks were rough and edged, while others were smooth and clean. We kept walking until we made it to a pond of water. Lilly-pads were floating up at the top of the water, creating little ripples on the surface of the water. I smiled while looking at it and looked around, trying to find if any fish or frogs were underneath there.

Nothing.

I shrugged and kept up the pace with Omid.

"How are you feeling? With your leg and all." Omid asked, gesturing towards my leg.

I shook my head. "I'm fine," I told him. "You don't have to treat me like a queen or something. If I can walk, then I'm not dead yet. And I don't want you to waste your energy being concerned about me. I don't need help." I looked at Omid and he looked kinda hurt.

"I didn't mean any of that in a bad way. I'm just getting more... independent."

'_Really Zane? 'Independent'? Who says that?_'

Omid laughed. "Sure."

We kept walking and talking. Talking about what life was like BEFORE the shit fell apart. I talked about Jospeh and Kate, but I totally avoided the part about John. I was trying to focus more on FINDING him then talking and thinking about him. Not much of a strategy, but enough for me to go around.

Omid talked about how annoying his older sister was... yet she could still beat him at arm-wrestling. Even today she probably could. Then he started saying how smart his brother was for such a young kid.

We smiled and laughed. Cried and argued... but all those agurements ended with agreements. '_Kinda weird how that works out so well, huh?_'

Suddenly, I heard a moan and a stick breaking behind me. I could tell Omid heard it too. "What was that?" He muttered under his breath. I shook my head to say I had no idea. I slipped my hatchet to my hand, although I had no fucking idea how to use it, and Omid turned around. The color drained from his face and his mouth flew open. I turned around too.

There were walkers all around us.

"Holy shit." Omid muttered. He turned to me and yelled. "GO ZANE, JUST GO!"

"What?! WHY?" I held up my hatchet at a walker that was walking right towards me. I was startled at first, but with a screech that came out of me, I flew the hatchet and smashed the zombie's head open. He fell to the ground easily.

Omid pulled out his gun and started shooting the walkers. "JUST DO IT!" He kept yelling, which was only worse. More and more walkers crawled and slowly moaned to catch up to us.

"NO!" I shouted back. "YOU'LL DIE BY YOURSELF."

"YEAH?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "YOU'LL JUST MAKE IT WORSE!" That time it didn't have sarcasm.

I turned to him, and instantly felt hurt. I don't know why, I just hated it when someone thinks you're weak just because you're an ten-year-old girl.

He shot a couple more walkers and looked down at me. "Look, I'm sorry," He said. "I just need you to go. Be with your family Zane. This is what I helped you to do. And I need you to do it. I won't die by myself." He smiled at me and nodded. "I promise."

I wanted to nod back... but I didn't. Instead I quickly hugged his side, and then turned around smiled at him, and ran away from him as far away as I could. So far so that I wouldn't hear the death cry of the zombies hurtling on top of him. All because he wanted to save me. I stared down at the ground as I ran. '_I don't deserve this..._' I thought. '_I don't deserve having people dying just for saving me, because I can't save myself._'

I held in the tears I felt in my glossy eyes and kept running as fast as my legs could carry me in a limited amount of time.

* * *

><p><strong>- A few minutes later-<strong>

I finally sat down on a rock, splashing cool pond water on my dried up face. The dirt dissolved and fell into the ocean below with every slosh of water I splashed on my face. It felt really good trickling down my neck and dripping on my jacket. It felt real nice. Like I was sleeping in a warm bed. Well... actually a cold bed, but still is worth it.

I took out the water-bottle Christa gave me and filled it up with water from the pond.

The pond water wasn't the cleaniest water, but at least it tasted fine. I quickly put the bottle away, back into the back and got up from the rock. I stared up and realized how close to the lighthouse I was. '_I could easily run there..._' I thought. '_And that's just what I'm gunna do._'

I zipped my backpack zipper and flipped it onto my back, adjusting it perfectly. Whatever "perfect" meant nowadays.

I jumped over the rocks and animals I that crossed my path. Even all the little streams of water, or just little small things I didn't want to touch until I finally reached the lighthouse. Painting for fresh air, I lifted up my hand, and knocked on the door once.

No one came out.

Twice?

Nope.

Three times?

Still nothing?

'_Are they even here yet?_' I asked myself, and tugged on the latch to open the door, which surprisingly, it worked! I cautiously walked it, holding up my hatchet just in case there were any zombies in there.

There were spiral-stairs leading up to the top porch. There was another door beside the staircase and I heard a soft, muffled voice which sounded like someone was crying. Oddly, it sounded like... Kate?

I crept up to the door and hesitated as I reached the latch to open that door. Taking a deep breath, I swung the door open to see who it was.

KATE! JOSPEH! My skipped a beat and it felt as if my heart-strings were about to fall off from heavenly emotion. Joshpeh stared up at me, and I could from his face that he thought this was all just a terrific dream. Kate was the one who was sobbing. Once the door made a huge _SCREAK! _she looked up and stared as well, like I was a Christmas-tree, sparkling up the night... er, something.

I was the first to break the silence. "This isn't a dream dad." I whispered.

"It's life."


	14. Chapter 14 Epi: 3 Not My Kind Of Ending

Jospeh immediately ran up to me and squeezed me with joy. I could hear a faint sniffle come out of him when we were hugging. I didn't say anything though.

"Zane! Zaneiline-honey... if this is a dream Imma never wake up from it!" He exclaimed in between hugs.

He let go of me and I turned around, closing my eyes and opening my arms, getting ready for Kate to spring into my arms as well. But she didn't. Instead, she just sat there, staring at me. I opened my eyes to look at her... and she looked awful. She was sitting down, her eyes covered with tears.

'_Damn..._' I thought.

"Wha-. What happened to you?"

Dad turned over to me and shook his head, cutting my sentence off. " It's okay. Don't worry about her Zane." He started to pat my head to try to calm me down. It wasn't working...

"I'm okay." Kate's voice was all ragged and edged. It was kinda hard to make out what she said.

"I just need to sleep. Real tired."

I nodded in agreement. "I think we could all use a good sleep." I chuckled. Kate nodded in agreement as well.

"Okay honey." Kate opened up her arms wide for me to crawl into. I nestled next to her breast, listening closely to make sure she was breathing alright. Seemed fine. "So... what happened out there?" Kate asked me, clutching me closer to her.

"There were zombies. I tried running away, but then I got stuck in a trap somebody put up."

Kate looked down at me, horrified.

"I didn't get bite though. This man and women saved me." I paused before saying their name's. "They were Omid and Christa. They took care of me for the past few days until they let me go to find you guys again."

Kate smiled. "Those are some good people. I'm glad you're okay."

Jospeh sat down and took out a can of beans. "This is all what's left, Zane. Nuthing more. Can't find any stores either. The St. John's family was good for a while. 'Til we knew the truth about them. Guess they didn't want us too." He took out his pocket knife and started to cut open the lid to the can of beans. He looked up at me, smiled, and sloshed out a slimy pile. Not exactly MY kind of food...

I winced. Then looked back at the pocket knife that Jospeh was using. It oddly reminded me of that hatchet I got. '_I think I better show 'em that cool thing._' I thought, while reaching over to my backpack to retrieve it.

"Hey mom, dad!" I said happily. Zipping my backpack opening, I slowly took out my hatchet while saying... "Isn't this cool or what?"

Jospeh and Kate's color drained from their faces as they saw the red-bloodied-spoltched hatchet I pulled out of my backpack. I was confused on why they were getting freaked out over it, but I decided just to ignore it.

"Christa gave it to me. She let me have it because when I was going to adventure off on my own she knew I'd have to protect myself. It's actually a pretty cool weapon." I held it up higher into the air, and it sparkled like it was some kind of medal or something. "I just wish I'd gotten a gun or something easier." I muttered.

"UM, NO!" Jospeh snatched the hatchet away from me, spraying bottle water on the hatchet where the blood stains were. "You are NOT going to be using a weapon unless it's under OUR permission young lady."

"Wha...- WHY?!" I screeched. I noticed Kate wince at the corner of my eye.

"Please, both of you... don't argue." Kate said, lifting up her arms to block out the darting eyes that burned through each other's skin. "No..." Jospeh interrupted. Kate stared at him as if he was crazy.

"What I mean is that you are RIGHT. We shouldn't argue about something so dumb. It's clear what the true answer is." He slipped the hatchet into the bag with all the weapon's we managed to grab on our way out of the St. John's family house. "The answer is NO." He looked at me, his big green eyes piercing into my soul like little knives slitting my throat.

Pretty scary, actually. I held my breathe as he does it. Always.

"Jospeh." Kate demanding. "Don't show those damn eyes right now. That's not needed, and you fucking know it." She glanced over at me. "Sorry for the language Zane-baby. Just trying to make a point."

"It's..-"

"Zane's not a baby anymore." Jospeh said. "She can handle enough bad words as I can fucking stand."

"If I'm not I baby anymore," I paused to cross my arms on my chest. "...Then why can't I carry a hatchet to kill those zombies?" In my mind I was thinkin' '_OH YEAH! Hello yeah girl!_'. But my dad wasn't really into the joke... at all.

He narrowed his eyes at me, repeating that stare he just did to me a minute ago. I shiver spilt down my spine and I shivered along with it.

"Jospeh and Zane!" Kate glanced at both of us. She slowly wobbled up onto her feet and gave US the stare. "Why don't you BOTH sit down and RELAX FOR A DAMN MOMENT! I haven't had a single break since I got here. Every since Zane left-" She pointed to me, "-and we couldn't find her... I THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD. I would CRY and CRY all the time... hoping to god and... and... HELL BELOW US EVEN.. that she would be okay. I couldn't sleep for three days STRAIGHT!" She sighed and fell down on all knees, as if she was about to cry again... but she didn't.

"I just want to sleep with the family. I want us to get along. I DIDN'T WANT US TO FIGHT! I've had enough of the fucking fighting. I just want to relax." She inhaled a loud breath and stared back at us, waiting for us to sit down or something.

"What do you say?" She asked, her deep brown eyes, almost looked yellow... and she looked sadly weak.

Jospeh looked over at me. Then turned to face Kate and shook his head. "Yes." He said, softly. I looked at Kate as well. "Yeah," then i curled up next to her, ready to sleep.

* * *

><p>My sight was drossy and my feet felt a little numb. I heard thunder roaring in the wind outside, which startled me awake. I yawned, still tired from that fight last afternoon, and the sat up to twist my legs so they'd feel better.<p>

I heard moaning behind me. '_Probably just Kate having a dream..._' I paused in my thoughts. '_A really disturbing dream._'

My legs finally felt better and I reached over to grab a water bottle to drink since I really was thristy. When it came to realization that there was NO water in the bottle, I mumbled under a sigh, and put the bottle down. Kate's moans were growing louder and deeper. Sounded strangely like a walker... and it really frightened me.

I looked over my shoulder and shrieked with horror as I saw what was crawling up to me.

Kate

Was

A

Walker.

At first I thought this was a dream, so I did the most dumbest thing anyone would have ever done if a zombie was chasing you. I slammed the empty water-bottle right on her head.

AS IF THAT WOULD DO THE TRICK! (Which it didn't...)

Kate grabbed hold of my arm and I screamed, not a girly scream, just a normal scream. My father heard me and instantly woke up. He looked around and noticed zombie-Kate holding onto my arm, trying to bite it off.

"ZANE!" He cried, about to jump up on Kate until I pushed her away with my foot and she came slamming away into Jospeh.

Jospeh had no time to hesitate. He quickly flipped his wife off of him and squinted hard so he could try and make out who she was. I ran over to the bag with all the weapon's and guns in them so I could shoot right in the middle of her forehead. "Zane... is that... KATE?" I heard Jospeh mumbled under his breathe. He turned around to face me. He saw the gun that I was clutching onto. I looked over at him, questionably.

"NO ZANE!" He shouted, racing towards me. All the while, Kate was getting up, her face was zombified. There was no choice left yet to shoot her.

To be honest, I had no idea how to use the gun. Everything seemed like it was in slow-motion. I pushed back the hammer, but the barrel of the gun between her eyes...

...

And pulled the trigger.


	15. Chapter 15 Epi: 4 New People

**- ONE MONTH LATER -**

"Pick it up." Jospeh demanded. '_Jeez, dad's can be such dickheads sometimes._' I thought angrily to myself. And by "dickhead" I really meant it.

"PICK. IT. UP." Jospeh repeated when I ignored him. Once he shouted at me, I snapped back into reality, good-old fucking reality and told my father, "OK! I'M DOING IT! Don't get your boxers all wrapped up in a notch..." I bent down to pick up the blanket that slipped out of my bag and shoved it back in.

I bent back up and sighed as I saw my father ignoring me by keep walking without stopped to help me.

Jospeh hates me now... ever since that day. I was such a dumb-ass for shooting her like that, but she was already dead. And there was really nothing we could do about it. After that day... dad did... HORRIBLE things to me. He uses me. Never agrees with my opinion, even if he knows damn well that it's the right one. But right now, in this kind of world, if someone dies, you're just gunna have to deal, and let them out of there misery. As much as that sounds so selfish, it's true. It was suchish and dumb when Kate died. When I had to kill her, but someone had to do it. And I actually excepted it... even though it still pains me today. I agree that god will take her soul to a better place, where she can relax in peace. Jospeh doesn't seem to understand that...

yet.

I caught up with my father easily. I wanted to tell him about MY opinion, but he doesn't seem to care about anything that does with me anymore.

"So dad..." I said, itching for the right words to come out of my mouth. "I was thinking... maybe we should go find a group. It'll be much easier to travel with a pack. We can all hunt together. Survive together...-" I paused. "-Like Kate used to-"

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU BRING KATE UP IN THIS CONVERSATION?!" Jospeh screamed at me.

I stared down at the ground and sighed. '_Great-fuckin-job Zane... good to go._' I shook my head away from those thoughts.

"I don't want to be with anyone because of, what ever those dumb-asses again Zane?" Jospeh asked me, looking up at the sky as if the answer was up there. "They were the family that owned that big, old great farm?"

"Oh! The St. Johns family?"

"Yes! Those son-of-bitches." He finally remember. Well... I remembered for HIM. Seems like that's the only thing I'm useful for anymore...

"I just thought it'd be easier that's all... remember Omid and Christa?" I knew he didn't meet them, but I thought by saying that, he might agree with me because they saved my life.

"Oh yeah." Jospeh grunted. "They should've left you stuck in that bear-trap."

I gasped in shock. I never knew he'd go that far. I closed my mouth, and shut up for the rest of a while, just thinking to myself.

I was around December, based on the weather. Every once in a while, I'd think it might snow... but only flurries would show up. One day it rained so much that we had to hid out in a cave that belonged to a bear... or a village of foxes, not quite sure, but nothing was in there so we stayed there for a while. Then when the rain finally stopped, we went out looking for an abandoned store to collect suppiles. That's what we're doing now.

"Dad..." I began. "You DO know that I would NEVER and DID NEVER mean to hurt or try to forcefully kill Kate in anyway shape or...-"

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR FUCKING FEELINGS ABOUT KATE." He shouted at me, yet again. This time he stopped right in his tracks, doing his stare at me again, which made me shiver all over.

"You don't give a damn that she's dead, do you Zane? You didn't even hesitate! You just.. let her GO! I didn't even get to FUCKING SAY GOODBYE, zane... I thought... I didn't.. I THOUGHT IT WAS A DAMN DREAM. And... YOU KILLED HER?! It was like you didn't even give a SHIT."

"Yes I did dad! And you know well I did!" I shouted back at him. "And I'm sorry, okay? In fact, it was HARD for me too let her go. Every night I'd cry from that day on and you wouldn't give me a break. I tried and tried to agree with your feelings for the passed few months.. but I CAN'T. And you DID get to say good-bye to her. You said good-bye by cuddling her. one. last. time."

"It's not like that." Jospeh shouted back.

"DAMN RIGHT IT IS!"

"ZANE!" Jospeh stared at me again. "Watch your language young lady."

I grunted. '_I hated being called "young lady this" and "little girl that"... I was so much more mature then that now. And Jospeh knows it._'

"And here's your hatchet." Dad pulled out MY hatchet from behind him and held it out for me to grab. "Don't know why you'd need it though..." He said, softly. I still heard him though.

We kept walking for a while, with the hatchet around my hand. Suddenly, I heard a bush rustle behind me. I slowly turned around to face the bush, and held up my hatchet, glancing over at Jospeh to look at his facial expression. He nodded slowly. Just as I was about to spring up on the thing that was in the bush, a old man jumped out at me with a rifle.

"AH!" I jumped up, startled, staring at the man with the rifle and watching him laugh.

"Oh... my... goodness," He said between laughs. "So sorry little lady, didn't realize you were alive. Thought you were a zombie. Can't be real sure 'bout the things that cross this area nowadays."

I coughed as if I wasn't frightened at his exestince. Then I looked over at my father, questioning his scorn look on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" Jospeh asked in a scornful tone with a... uh... scornful, or something, look on his face.

The man just laughed. "Name's Chris Hazel." He held up his hand to shake it, and awkwardly put it down when we didn't even bother to look at it. "Well... nice to meet ya'll.." He looked down at all the bags we were carrying. "Ohhh... mighty lot of bags you're carryin' there, how ya'll hold up with fighting zombies like that?"

"We call the walkers sir," I answered, shyly, "And we manage just fine... thanks very much..."

The man looked down at us, shaking his head in agreement. "You must be tired, why don't you come over to our place?"

Jospeh and I exchanged glances. I smiled at him, and he frowned at me. It was like Jospeh read me mind, because deep down I was pleading, '_OH, Please say yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! We can go, just please agree with him, father! Agree with both of us?_'

Dad rolled his eyes making sure that "Chris guy" didn't see and said. "Sure, where are you talking us?"

"Don't worry." The man said. "It's just up this track. Not far away. Promise." I nodded my head to agreement and turned to my father. "What the hell?" He said with a sigh and started our way up the track, to the guy's group.

* * *

><p>"Here we are!" Chris exclaimed as we entered. Everyone raised their heads and smiled, waving over at Chris, with huge cheesy smiles on their faces until they noticed us. Their expressions changed immediacy and all glances fell on Jospeh. I looked up at Jospeh as to ask him, "The hell's going on here?" But he didn't seem to notice their looks and what-not.<p>

"So... you said your name's were Jospeh-" Chris points at my father, "-and Zane?" He points at me.

"Yes sir." I said.

"Well welcome to my group." He smiled, wide-eyed and seemed very nice. '_All little too nice... *cough* St. John's Family... *cough*_'

A lady that wore BLACK EVERYTHING walked up to us, eying me in particular. "Who are these losers?" She asked, her voice was a little deep and rough for a girl, but mine was pretty much the same for my age... but still.

"This are new people. I just found them when I got lost." Chris stated. "They seem nice."

"Just because they seem nice DOESN'T mean that they ARE nice." The lady said, twisting her body to the side, with her hands on her hips. I actually agreed with her on that statement. "Tie them up to that tree."

That statement... not so much...

"What?" Jospeh stared at the girl, his eyes darting to both of her dark, blue shiny eyes.

"You heard me... asshole."

I saw rage spring into Jospeh's eyes, and it looked as if he was about to say something. Chris stopped him though.

"SAMANTHA!" Chris shouted. "I'll agree with you on one thing, but just because they are new doesn't mean we have to tie them up to a fucking tree-" He stopped mid-sentence and looked down at me. "Sorry kid... language." He immediately shut up.

"It's fine," I protested, "I'm not a child anymore."

"Damn right." The girl with the blue eyes and black hair stared down at me. '_So she's Samantha?_' I thought to myself. "Welcome to the group... newbies." Samantha trotted off, her hips swaying right and left with every step she took. I just rolled my eyes at that girl.

"I'm so sorry." Chris said. "She's a bit of a... hard-ass. But you'll just have to get used to her." Chris looked down at me and smiled. "I have a couple kids around your age in the RV over there." He pointed to the RV sitting next to the campfire area they have. "If you want to meet them you can go right on ahead. I'm going to have a little chat with your father... just to get to know him better."

I smiled. "Okay." And I ran up to the RV... finally able to see someone my age again.

Hoping they were nice, I entered him slowly looking around, hoping I didn't startle them. They bounced a little when I entered. There were two boys and one girl. The girl looked a little older than me, probably about 14 and one of the guys were probably an year older than me, 11. Then the guy in the middle of the two kids was the youngest. He would probably be 8.

"Uh... hi?" I asked, awkwardly.

"Can zombies talk?" The youngest kid whispered to the girl who was the oldest. "No you idiot, it's a new-comer... well, probably." The girl whispered back. "Why are you two whispering, you know she can probably hear you, right?" The other guy whispered back. "Hey! You whispered too..." The smaller kid said again.

"Okay guy's, SHUT UP," The girl raised her voice a little and then smiled up at me. "Uh... hi?" She replied back, repeating what I had said.

The younger boy had big blue eyes, they were light in color too. He had freckles around his face, that whipped over his eyes and around his nose. It was actually kind of cute. His hair was shaped as a bowl, like it was a bit over-growen and... different. His skin color was white, and his hair color was light brown, with small blonde streaks in the front. He was wearing a brown, buttoned up jacket with camo pants and white teeni-shoes.

The other boy was about the same size and height as me. His hair was shorter than the other boy's and it was blonde. It looked kinda wavy too. His eyes were dark brown, and he was wearing ripped up jeans with a red shirt that had a shark labeled on it which said, "COOL BITE!". His jacket was tied around his waist. He was white also. He was also wearing white sneakers.

The girl was black, with black, long straight hair. Her eyes were almost black, similar to my color, and she was wearing a red, puffed up shirt with a pink skirt. Not exactly MY style, but it was all okay. She wore white sneakers with a hat that said, "Cool Chick" with rhinestones all around the lettering.

I smiled at them and lifted up my hat a little so they could see my face a little clearer. "My name's Zaneiline. You can... just call me Zane."

The girl was the first one to speak. "Cool!" She said. "My name's Claire. These two weirdos are Leo-" She gestured to the younger boy, "-and Michael." She gestured to the older boy. "Nice to meet you."

"What's up?" Michael asked, waving to me.

"I like dinosaurs." Leo said to me, holding up a dino-plushie and hugging it to him. "I named him "RAWR"! Cause he's a dinosaur."

I nodded to him, "Right..." and then sat down next to them. "It's real nice meeting new people again." I sighed. "I haven't seen anyone ever since my mom died."

All the kids glanced over at me, a look on their faces that said, "What you say?"

"What does "died" mean?" Leo looked around the room at everyone. I could see Claire roll her eyes at his remark. "It means that she passed away and isn't living anymore." She replied to him, and then turned around to face me. "I'm so sorry girl. I hope everything is okay."

"I'm perfectly fine... just not my father."

"Must hurt for him." She said, "It WAS his wife. How long since it's been?"

I glanced over at all the kids before saying the answer. "About a month or so." I heard Michael mutter, "That sucks... Kinda like what happened to my dad. He got bite." I stared over at him.

"What happened?"

"Well.." He began. "I wasn't there, but he was fighting off zombies and I saw him. I got scared, so I ran over to help him... thinking it was an okay idea. It was going well at first, but then one of those zombies trudged over to me to bite me... and I pushed him... and...-" He stopped.

"It's okay." I said. Then I smelled something, something that I hadn't in a long time. "Whoa!" I shouted. "Is that... FOOD?" All the kids stared at me after that awkward question, and Leo started laughing like crazy. "Yes silly," He said inbetween laughs. I rolled my eyes.

'_Welp... Imma gunna get some, smells like soup._' "I'm starving. Haven't had REAL food in a while." I looked over at the boys. "Wanna race to the campfire?"

The girl shook her head. "Not hungry." But all the guys were already in running position, which made me laugh.

"Hecks yeah!" I heard Michael say. "Betcha can't beat me." He smirked.

"Bet I can." I laughed.

And then we all ran over to eat that delicious smelling, potato soup.


End file.
